


The Crimson Dragon's Call

by StardustBlueEyes



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-11-13 21:25:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 40,765
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11193738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StardustBlueEyes/pseuds/StardustBlueEyes
Summary: One night, the Crimson Dragon appears in front of Yugi and his friends. It catapults them into the future with no explanation other than the Signers need their help. But who are the Signers? The two groups from different times must work quickly to defeat this new evil, but how can they when it knows their worst fears, the things buried deepest in their hearts? Is it a battle against themselves, or this mysterious new shadow figure?





	1. Calling the Past

**Author's Note:**

> This is a story that I started on FanFiction.net, but I decided to put it up here as well. I have 16 chapters already written, so it will be updated fairly quickly until I run out of prewritten stuff. Then it'll probably be once a week. Also, let me know if you would prefer for me to use the Japanese names or English names. (Ex. Ruka or Luna, Anzu or Téa, etc.) Anyway, let me know your thoughts and if I did anything wrong, or someone's OOC. Advice is appreciated. ;-) Now, without further ado, chapter one of the Crimson Dragon's Call!

“Oh, really?!” Yusei swore, pushing himself out from under his runner and looking over it, trying to see if he’d done anything wrong. It looked like it was in perfectly good shape, which only served as a cause for the duelist to become even more frustrated. It wouldn’t start. No matter what he tried, fixed, replaced, or cleaned, the bike he had been through so much with refused to go. It’d been over a week, and he was just lucky that there still another week until their next WRGP duel.  
“Still not working? You’ve been down here all night.” An orange-haired man came down the stairs into the garage, yawning.   
“No,” Yusei said, sighing and running a hand through his hair. “I don’t know what’s wrong with it. Everything should be fine, but whatever isn’t working is really well-hidden.”  
“Jack’s runner wouldn’t start yesterday,” the ginger said matter-of-factly. “Think it’s the same thing?”  
“I have no idea. He didn’t ask me to look at it. What about yours, Crow?” Yusei asked.  
“So far, it’s been fine. Akiza’s is working, too. But if neither you nor Bruno could find anything wrong, then we’re in trouble,” Crow answered, making his way around Yusei’s runner to his own. He slid into the seat and started it—or tried to. It didn’t even make a sound.  
“Are you kidding me?!” Crow gave a frustrated groan. “Not my baby!”  
“Let me look,” Yusei offered, though he had a sinking feeling he wouldn’t find anything. Even so, he took his tools and slid under Crow’s runner. Everything was in perfect condition. He spent a good twenty minutes searching, but there wasn’t anything he could find that needed fixing.  
“Sorry, Crow. Can’t find anything,” Yusei finally said, standing up and dusting himself off.  
“It can’t just be a coincidence. First yours, then Jack’s, then mine. All three main duelists of Team 5D’s. Someone’s sabotaging us! Oh, when I find that--”  
“Crow!” Yusei cut him off before he could say anything shocking. “I’ve been down almost all week. Something that is this hard to find would take a long time to get out, and I honestly don’t know anything that could be sabotaged. I’d have caught them. I was down here all night, and yours just stopped working. No one could have come down here in that time.”  
“So… what’s stopping the runners?”  
“I have no idea. I just hope I can fix it by the time any one of us is challenged next.”  
“Yusei!” Footsteps pattered down the ramp, and the twins, Leo and Luna, stood before the two duelists.  
“Leo, Luna. What’s going on?” Yusei asked.  
“Akiza’s runner is broken!” Leo announced.  
Crow groaned and dropped his head into his hands. “We’re done for!”  
“Broken?” Yusei asked. “How?”  
“I was with them last night. I tried to start it this morning, but it didn’t even make a sound,” a new voice said. A burgundy-haired woman was making her way down the ramp.  
“Oh, not you, too, Akiza!” Crow wailed dramatically.  
“You already knew that mine hasn’t been starting for the past week. Jack’s broke down yesterday, and Crow’s wouldn’t start this morning,” Yusei told her. “I can’t find a single thing wrong, and neither can Bruno.”  
“There’s nothing wrong with Jack’s, as far as I can see, either.” Another made their way down the stairs. He had blue hair, his jacket rolled up to his elbows and grease on his hands.  
“This can’t just be a coincidence,” Luna said. “Within a week, all your runners just stop working!”  
Yusei just shrugged. “I really don’t know, Luna.”  
……..  
Seto Kaiba frowned. Yet another call had come through. Duel disks- Kaiba Corp. duel disks were malfunctioning all over the world. Monsters would flicker into life, and then disappear and the disk would shut down, or it just wouldn’t work in the first place. Even his own was experiencing trouble, and by conversations he picked up at school, both Yugi and Joey were having trouble with theirs. It was odd, this new development. Everything had been working smoothly, until about a week before. Then the tech just started going out in the masses. None of the top technicians could find anything wrong, and even Kaiba himself hadn’t been able to see anything that wasn’t perfect. Even his own wouldn’t call forth monsters. And though he had spent many hours hunched over it in his office, everything looked pristine and perfect. He didn’t know what was wrong. And Seto Kaiba hated not knowing something.  
“Hey, Joey!”   
Joey turned to see a pretty blonde approaching him. “Oh, hey Mai. What’s up?”  
“My duel disk just suddenly stopped working,” Mai answered. “It’s the strangest thing. I was in the middle of beating someone, and then both of our monsters just disappeared and the disk shut down. Has that happened to you?”  
Joey nodded. “Me and Yug both can’t duel with our duel disks. Heck, Kaiba hasn’t challenged Yami in so long I’m startin’ to think that maybe something’s wrong with his.”  
“It’s weird,” Mai agreed. “I wonder what happened. They just started malfunctioning all at once. It’s been all over the news. Everyone’s talking about it.”  
“And no one can figure out why.”  
Joey and Mai turned to see a familiar face behind them.  
“Yami! Yours is still broken?” Joey asked.  
The ancient pharaoh nodded. “Neither Yugi nor I can find anything wrong with it.”  
“I wonder why,” Mai said aloud.  
To that, no one had an answer.  
On Friday night, Téa, Joey, Tristan, Mai, and Yugi were at the game shop. They had staged a small dueling tournament (without duel disks, of course). Yugi and Yami alternated control, and every time it was won by one of them.  
“Oh, that’s it!” Joey frowned as Yugi’s Dark Magician blasted away the rest of his life points. The duels between the two best friends always took the longest, and were always the closest. In this particular duel, Yugi was down to his last hundred life points when he finally managed to beat Joey. The short teen laughed.   
“What’s it?” he asked, grinning.  
“I can’t beat you,” the blond mumbled, turning over the top card on his deck out of curiosity. His eyes bulged. “Wha--? I could’ve turned the whole thing around with this if I had drawn it one turn ago!”  
Yugi looked over at the card in his friend’s hand. It was Graceful Dice. He had already used Skull Dice and depleted Dark Magician’s attack points by two hundred that turn, still leaving him with more than Panther Warrior, but paired with Graceful Dice, he could’ve bumped his monster’s attack points up. And he had had a monster he could’ve sacrificed for his Panther Warrior to attack. If he was lucky, he could’ve surpassed Dark Magician’s attack points and maybe even won.  
Yugi laughed again. “The universe is not on your side today, Joey.”  
Joey started to reply, but was cut off by a strange roar.  
“What is that thing?” Mai asked, echoing the thoughts of everyone present.   
It was a red dragon, its body seeming to flicker and move, its glowing yellow eyes fixed on the group.  
'I am the Crimson Dragon.'  
“What do want with us?” Yugi asked, his gaze fixed on the beast in his living room.  
'A new threat is coming, greater than any my chosen Signers have faced. They need your help. Come with me.'


	2. An Evil Awakening

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've decided to get the 16 prewritten chapters from FanFiction.net up as quickly as I can, but if you do like this story just know that after that updating will be shortened to probably once a week. At least, currently I update a new chapter every Sunday. I really hope you like this chapter, ad let me know your thoughts, advice, or ideas in the comments. On FanFiction, someone actually gave me a really great suggestion that is a pretty prominent part of the story right now, so I am completely open to advice and ideas. ;-)

Friday night, Yusei, Jack, Crow, Bruno, Akiza, Leo, and Luna were all gathered in the garage. Yusei and Bruno’s hands were both stained with grease, and Yusei’s jacket and gloves were thrown haphazardly over a chair, both with oil marks smeared over the material. Despite everything, no one had a solution. Akiza had pulled up a news article about other duel runners everywhere suffering the same problems.   
“If everyone has the same problems, is it some part that we’re not aware of or something?” Luna asked hopefully.  
Yusei shook his head. “I built my runner from scratch, remember? There isn’t a part in it that I don’t know about. I’ve checked everything.”  
“Then what’s causing it?” Jack asked. “I want my runner so I can get back to beating hopeless wannabes.”  
Crow rolled his eyes. “Look, if nobody can duel, the WRGP is probably going to be put on hold. We’ve got more time to practice so we can beat people like Team New World.”  
“Those guys are going down!” Leo yelled, jumping up in his excitement, while Luna sighed and shook her head.  
A red glow illuminated the faces of the worried Signers. Their marks. They were glowing, pulsing with light, but this felt different. They were burning, searing into the arms of the owners, much like when they had first appeared, but different somehow.  
“Ah!” Crow yelped. “What’s that?!”  
Yusei frowned, but a familiar roar interrupted any answer he might’ve given.  
“The Crimson Dragon,” Akiza gasped, her hazel eyes wide.  
My Signers. You must be prepared. The duel runners ceasing to work all at once is no coincidence. There is a new threat coming, greater than any you have faced before.   
“Worse than the Dark Signers and Primo?” Luna asked, wide-eyed, one hand clutching her Mark.  
I’m afraid so, child. But you will not do this alone. Without further explanation, a blinding red light emanated from the powerful dragon, causing the Signers to shield their faces. When the light finally faded, a group of teenagers lay disoriented on the cold floor of the garage. The first one to sit up had a rather recognizable head of spiked tricolored hair, followed by a familiar messy head of blond.  
“Is that…?” Crow couldn’t even finish his sentence.  
“Yugi Moto! Is this real? And Joey Wheeler! Woah! Crimson Dragon, you’re the best!” Leo cheered, rocketing up from his perch on the ramp, only to be pulled back down by Luna.  
“Calm down, Leo. They’ve just been pulled by a glowing red dragon into the future. They’re probably confused,” Luna scolded her twin, then gasped when someone else she was a fan of pushed themselves off the ground.  
“Mai Valentine?” she asked meekly.  
Yugi and Joey stood, followed quickly by Mai.  
“Yes, but how do you know us?” the short teen questioned curiously.  
“What do you mean how do we know you? Yugi Moto is just about the most famous duelist in history,” Crow replied, finding his voice. “Probably the best who ever lived.”  
“Most famous duelist in history?” Yugi squeaked out, eyes wide.  
“Hey, what about me?” Joey said, miffed. “What about Joey Wheeler? The squirt knew me!”  
“Hey!” Leo yelped. “But you’re famous too! You and Yugi! Everyone knows you!”  
Joey grinned, satisfied.  
“And the girl knew me,” Mai said.  
Luna nodded shyly. “I think you’re really cool,” she mumbled, “because most famous duelists are guys, so… you know…” She looked at her shoes.  
Mai grinned. “Well, it doesn’t have to be that way. I’m sure there are plenty of good female duelists. They just have to try and pick up a deck.”  
“Luna’s a fair duelist herself,” Akiza said, with a fond smile at the younger girl. Luna blushed.  
“The only thing is… you were all killed in Zero Reverse. Sorry to be the black cloud, but you’ve been dead for about nineteen years,” Jack said.  
Silence met this comment.   
“We’re all… dead?” Téa asked. “I’m Téa, by the way,” she added, figuring that they wouldn’t know her since she wasn’t a duelist.  
“And I’m Tristan,” Tristan put in. “But seriously… everyone?”  
Yusei nodded. “The Zero Reverse disaster split Domino City in half. Eventually it was rebuilt into what it is today, New Domino City. Half of it, though, was the Satellite. That’s where I’m from. I’m Yusei Fudo,” he said.  
“I’m Crow Hogan.”  
“Jack Atlas.”  
“Akiza Izinski.”  
“I’m Bruno.”  
“I’m Luna, and Leo’s my twin.”  
Leo waved.  
“Listen, we’re not sure why you’re here, only that the Crimson Dragon appeared to us--” Yusei began.  
“Yeah, your freaky dragon brought us here,” Joey said, cutting him off.   
“It said that the Signers needed our help,” Yugi said. “Are you the Signers?”  
Yusei nodded, lifting his forearm and showing his Mark of the Dragon—just as it began to glow again. Every Signer’s Mark pulsed with that strange, burning light, and the blinding red flash lit up the garage, and another form was dropped in from the past. When he stood, a familiar icy glare met everyone present.  
“Kaiba,” Joey grumbled.  
“You’re dead too,” Jack said bluntly. Seto stared at him a moment. “I’m what?” Then he shook his head. “Never mind. You’ve clearly lost it.”  
“Says the guy who was just dropped here by a glowing red dragon,” Tristan said.  
“You nerds too?” Seto gave a theatrical sigh.  
“Why you--”  
This time, it wasn’t Tristan that held Joey back, but Yusei. The raven-haired Signer grabbed his arms and held them behind his back with strength that only came from growing up in a place like the Satellite.  
“We can’t fight among ourselves if what the Crimson Dragon said was true,” he yelled at the blond.  
Joey stopped trying to murder Seto and instead settled for a glare.  
“Yusei’s right,” Téa agreed. “That dragon brought us here for a reason.”  
I did. And that reason will be revealed in time. But it will not be what you are used to. Your runners will not be needed, and neither will duel disks. The shifting red form of the Crimson Dragon appeared in the garage, curled around the walls.  
“No dueling?” Crow asked, surprised. “Then how do we face this?”  
You will fight using monsters. You will see what I mean soon enough. For now, Signers, you must all work together if you are to survive. Even Seto Kaiba.  
Seto gave a noncommittal grunt, arms folded across his chest. “Where are we?” he asked finally. “Why do they think I’m dead?”  
Because, this far into the future, you are. Zero Reverse killed you, nineteen years ago.  
Seto opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Eventually, he closed it and listened to what the dragon had to say.  
You cannot afford to fight amongst yourselves. Work together if you want this world to survive. I put my faith in you all. With that last comment, the dragon disappeared, its last words ringing in the minds of the young duelists.  
“Well,” Tristan said finally. “Let’s go save the world. Again.”  
…….  
The sleeping arrangement that night was rather odd. When Seto had been caught up on what he had missed by being late, it was past midnight. Yusei, Jack, Crow, and Bruno took their usual rooms, while Akiza slept on the couch, the twins curled up next to her. Yugi and Joey slept on mattresses in Yusei’s room, while Tristan shared with Crow and Seto roomed with Jack. Mai and Téa were rolled up in sleeping bags in the living room by the twins and Akiza.  
Early the next morning, Leo woke up when a bird flew into the window. “I’m up!” he yelped, rolling off the couch and landing on a soft lump. A soft lump that gave a squeak of surprise when the unexpected weight tumbled onto it. Téa sat up, rubbing her eyes blearily while Leo shot up with a mumbled apology, stumbling back and tripping over the couch, falling back onto Akiza and Luna. Akiza sat up quickly, surprised, while Luna just pushed at her brother and mumbled, “Nice going, Leo.”  
Mai yawned and sat up, disturbed by the commotion. “What happened?”  
“Nothing important. Leo got scared by a bird,” Luna said.  
“It was loud!” Leo protested.  
Téa smiled at him. “It’s all right. While we’re up, why don’t we make breakfast for when the boys get up?”  
When Seto, Jack, Tristan, Crow, Yugi, and Joey stumbled into the kitchen, the apartment smelled really good. Yusei followed not a minute later, dressed and alert already.  
“I don’t get how you’re a morning person,” Crow mumbled into his plate of eggs, bacon, and toast.  
“I need coffee,” Jack and Seto said at the same time, then glared at each other.  
“Are all people who wear trench coats this arrogant and caffeine-addicted?” Crow asked, shaking his head in mock disappointment.  
“Shut up, Crow!” came the response from both.  
In order to settle the argument, Téa and Akiza slid cups of coffee down the kitchen counter to the two. They were both immediately silent.  
“Who knew you only had to give Seto Kaiba a cup of coffee to shut him up?” Joey whispered to Tristan, who gave a snort of laughter.  
Other than the fact that famous dead duelists were in the kitchen, the morning passed rather normally, but everybody was on edge, waiting for some sign that something was wrong, that the threat serious enough to call for the Crimson Dragon bringing in people from the past was coming. But there was nothing.   
Luna and Mai got along well, the blonde giving the young girl tips after looking at her deck, impressed at the Ancient Fairy Dragon.  
“Now, where did you get this?” she asked in amazement, holding up the Signer dragon.  
“It’s a Signer dragon, one of a kind,” Luna explained. “We all have one.”  
Hearing the conversation, Akiza slid Black Rose Dragon across the table. “This one’s mine.”  
Jack flipped Red Dragon Archfiend from his deck, holding it up proudly. “Nothing can beat him.”  
“Except Yusei,” Crow sniggered, showing Blackwing Dragon. Jack glared.  
“And this is Stardust Dragon,” Yusei said, pulling the famous monster from his deck and holding it up.  
“I don’t have a Mark, but I have a dragon, too!” Leo announced, holding up Power Tool Dragon.  
Joey gave an impressed whistle. “Those are some cool monsters you’ve got,” he said. “But can they beat the Red-Eyes Black Dragon?”  
“Woah! Cool!” Leo yelled, seeing the legendary dragon.  
“Blue-Eyes White Dragon could easily, mutt,” Kaiba countered, showing the infamous card.  
“Dark Magician’s beat that,” Yugi said in a rare show of confidence, holding up the legend.  
“This is amazing! I’m actually seeing all these cards! No one’s gonna believe it!” Leo was running from duelist to duelist, goggling at the monsters.  
“And we’re going to need them, according to the Crimson Dragon,” Akiza said.  
“Yes, but if we can’t duel, why do we need monsters?” Crow asked.  
Yusei shrugged. “The Crimson Dragon never said no dueling. It just said no runners or duel disks. We will need monsters, but I have a bad feeling they won’t be holograms, like when we dueled the Dark Signers. We—ah!”  
Whatever the head Signer was going to say was lost in a cry of pain. He crumpled to the ground, a hand pressed to his stomach. With a sinking feeling, Jack and Crow both recognized that place. It was where Yusei had been stabbed with a piece of road trash during his duel with Kalin.   
“Yusei!” Luna, Leo, and Akiza’s eyes were wide in horror and fixed on their friend. Strong, stoic Yusei, who would push through the loss of a limb if he had to.   
Coughs racked Yusei’s body, leaving him on his knees. The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before. It felt like his whole body was on fire, great waves of it, stemming from the old stab wound. He could barely even register his friends shouting his name, his body shaking. His Mark glowed, as did every Signer’s, but for the first time, its light faltered. It flickered, before finally going out.   
'See how easily I bring your leader to his knees?'  
The voice seemed to fill the room, smooth and sinister. It brought chills to the listeners.  
'I wonder how he feels, that pain a reminder of how it was his fault Kalin was pushed to become a Dark Signer? How Zero Reverse was his father’s fault? Killed so many people, ended so many lives before their time. Such a shame.'  
“That’s enough out of you!” Jack yelled, shaking his fist at the air. It had just said out loud Yusei’s biggest fears. It knew how to get to him.  
The pain faded a little, and Yusei collapsed forward, his breath coming in short gasps. He slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows, keeping his eyes on the floor.  
“Yusei?” Luna asked, her eyes filled with fear.  
'Whoops. Forgot about him. I was having too much fun tormenting him with his biggest fears.'  
The voice gave a laugh, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees just by the pure evil that was audible to everyone.  
“Is this a game to you?” Crow asked angrily.  
'Why, yes, actually. Rather fun.'  
Yusei gave another cry, his strength giving out. He collapsed again, shaking uncontrollably, the pain increasing twofold. The wound was burning, and any moment now he expected to see blood seeping from between his fingers.   
“STOP!” Akiza screamed, shooting to her feet, anything around her blown backwards into the walls, including people.  
'Oh, the psychic duelist. If I remember correctly, formerly known as the Black Rose Witch?'  
“Formerly,” Akiza said icily. “Not anymore. Leave my friends alone.”  
'As you wish. I have new prey now.'  
All at once, the pain stopped, and Yusei lay on the ground, unconscious, his Mark dull and lifeless.  
'However, you have caused him pain before, haven’t you?'  
Akiza didn’t need to see the mysterious voice’s owner to know that it was talking about Yusei. She bit her lip, but stayed silent.  
'How many people have you hurt before that? How many cowered in the shadow of the Black Rose?'  
Akiza shook her head vehemently. “That’s not me,” she said quietly. “That isn’t me now.” She sounded like she was trying to convince herself.  
'You nearly killed your own father. If Yusei hadn’t stopped you, if you hadn’t controlled your powers, who knows what would’ve happened?'  
“No! I would never hurt him! I’d never hurt my friends!”  
'Oh, Akiza. You just did. Look around. Your emotions ruled, and you just about crushed your so-called friends.'  
With a startled gasp, Akiza took in her surroundings. Yusei had been thrown into Jack, who was just now getting to his feet. Crow was leaning against the counter, rubbing his head. Leo and Luna were pulling themselves out of a tangled pile of limbs with Téa and Mai, while Yugi was rubbing his shoulder and Tristan and Joey were trying to get around the couch, which had trapped them. Bruno was trying to maneuver his leg out from under an arm chair. Seto’s head was dangerously close to the coffee table. Any closer and he might’ve been seriously injured or even killed, at the force with which the heavy table had been thrown against the wall.  
“I wouldn’t… I didn’t mean to…” Akiza fell to her knees, staring in horror at what she’d just done.   
'But you did. You’re still dangerous. Think they’re still not afraid of you and what you can do?'  
Akiza didn’t answer. She looked at the floor, her head in her hands.  
“What sort of psycho are you?” Seto asked angrily, getting to his feet.  
'Ah, Seto Kaiba. Gozaburo’s little prodigy.'  
Seto stepped back, sapphire eyes wide, as if he’d just been struck.  
'Just like him, aren’t you?'  
“I’m nothing like him!” Seto snapped.  
'Are you sure? You’re arrogant. You say you don’t need anyone. You’re willing to do anything for your own gain. Think of Mokuba. When was the last time you said anything to him other than “I can’t, I’m working?”'  
“I…” Seto was at a loss for words. Was this voice speaking the truth?  
The voice cackled. 'Oh, you are fun! Can’t exhaust all of you at once, though, can I? Have to save some for later.'  
The evil presence in the room disappeared, and everyone stared at each other a moment.  
“What just… what just happened?” Crow asked breathlessly.  
“We were attacked,” a new voice said grimly. Everyone turned to see a transparent form hovering above Yugi.  
“Attacked?” Bruno echoed.  
“Presumably the very same evil the Crimson Dragon warned us about,” the spirit continued.  
“How will we fight this, then?” Mai asked, casting worried glances at the three victims. Yusei was stirring, face pained. Akiza was on her knees, her head in her hands, and Seto was against the wall, his face pale.  
“Good question. How do we fight something in our very minds?” the spirit asked nobody in particular. To this, no one had an answer.


	3. The Shadow's Lair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3, people! Also, totally unrelated to this story, does anyone know whether you can copyright an original story to put on Wattpad or something so no one steals the idea? Please let me know what you think! And also share your thoughts on this chapter with me!

Yusei sat cross-legged on a bench in the garage, staring at nothing at three in the morning. The voice’s words rang in his head. Zero Reverse had been his father’s fault. God, it had even killed Yugi, Joey, and Kaiba. And he’d had the thought that he was the one who’d pushed Kalin to be a Dark Signer before. He’d told only Jack, so how did this voice know? It knew everything, even going after Akiza and Seto Kaiba. But its parting words ensured that it would be back. Have to save some for later.  
He’d been utterly powerless, and so had the Crimson Dragon. His Mark flickering, fading out. What would that mean for the Signers? If they didn’t have the power of the ancient being, what did they have?  
“What do we have?” he asked out loud.   
“We have each other,” a soft voice said from behind him.  
Yusei turned in surprise. “Akiza?”  
“What are you doing in the garage at three in the morning?” the claw Signer asked, sitting beside him.  
“I couldn’t sleep,” Yusei admitted. “That voice really got to me.”  
“I was having trouble too,” Akiza said quietly. “I heard you get up and I wanted some company. Everything it said was so true…”  
“What did it say?” Yusei had been unconscious at the time, and even though he could see it pained her, Akiza answered his question.  
“I could… well, I got really angry when it hurt you,” she said, looking at the floor. “My emotions ruled, and my powers kind of went crazy. It threw everyone and everything away from me…”  
“Oh, so that’s why the furniture was everywhere,” Yusei realized.  
Akiza nodded. “I came so close to actually killing Seto Kaiba,” she murmured. “And you… you were already hurt, and then I tossed you and Jack into a wall. The voice said that I’d hurt you before, that everyone had to be at least a little bit afraid of me. And what would I be doing now, if you hadn’t interfered?”  
Yusei placed his hand over hers, earning a shocked glance up from the psychic duelist, but she didn’t pull away from him. “We’re not afraid of you,” he said. “You’re part of our group. Nothing will change that. And you’re a good person. Even if I hadn’t interfered, you would’ve made the right decision on your own.”  
Akiza’s hazel eyes met his cobalt, and she saw no trace of doubt, only how firmly Yusei believed in her. She smiled slightly, looking down at their hands, his still over hers.  
“Thank you,” she murmured.  
……..  
Two duelists were missing the next morning, but Crow eventually found Yusei and Akiza in the garage. It was an odd sight at first. Yusei’s head was pillowed on his arms on the work table in front of him, his jacket slung over his shoulders. The tail Signer guessed that he had fallen asleep first, and Akiza had found the jacket, but the psychic duelist was also sound asleep, her head resting somewhat awkwardly on Yusei’s back.  
“Jack,” he hissed, tiptoeing back into the apartment. The former King frowned at him. “What, Crow?”  
“I found Yusei and Akiza,” he said, rubbing his hands together with glee. The twins looked at him quizzically as they walked past, heading into the kitchen.  
“Come on!” Crow grabbed Jack’s wrist and dragged him to the garage door. “Look!”  
Jack’s eyes widened, and then he smirked. “This’ll be nice to make fun of him for.”  
Luna peeked in around him. “Aw, they’re so cute!” she gushed.  
Leo made a gagging noise. “Gonna be sick,” he said, turning away. “What’s for breakfast?”  
Luna stuck her tongue out at her twin’s back before following him. The rest of the teens, from the past or present, soon joined them to see what all the fuss was about. Joey grinned. “Aw, the first couple! I’m gonna wake them up!”  
“No, Joey!” Téa hissed, but it was too late.  
“WAKE UP!” the blond bellowed at the top of his lungs.  
Yusei’s head jerked up in surprise while Akiza bolted upright in fright. The head Signer’s jacket fell from his shoulders, and he looked around blearily, his face flushing a brilliant red when he realized what had happened. Akiza resembled a ripe tomato.  
Breakfast was spent teasing the two, everyone avoiding the real matter at hand, and they all knew it. The voice haunted their thoughts, but no one was willing to say anything. They were all (some showing it more than others), to put it bluntly, terrified. They had crumpled and fallen apart with almost no resistance to that evil presence. When would it come back? What would they do then? And how would they ever beat this, when it knew their deepest fears, the things buried deepest in their hearts?  
“We must face the real problem,” someone said finally. It was Yugi, but… not. He seemed different, more confident, his eyes older than anyone could fathom.  
“Way to ruin the mood, Yami,” Tristan grumbled, but even he knew that the pharaoh was right.  
“Yami?” Yusei questioned.  
“Don’t ask. It’s a long story. If we have time, we’ll tell you later, but for now, all you need to know is that Yami and Yugi are two totally different people,” Mai said.  
Yusei frowned, but he didn’t press it.  
“But how do we face it?” Luna asked. “You said yesterday that it’s even in our minds.”  
“It knows how to get to us, mentioning things that Yusei feared or felt guilty of. It exploited Akiza’s fear of hurting people and how she cares for her friends, and it compared Kaiba to the one person he hates more than anything, bringing his brother into it as well,” Yami said.  
“Then how do we fight it?” Mai asked.  
“That, I’m not entirely certain of,” the pharaoh admitted.  
“Remember your friends,” Akiza said suddenly.  
Yusei looked at her, understanding dawning in his eyes. “It made us feel alone, isolated from everyone else, and used that to break us apart,” he said.  
“So if you remember you’re not alone…” Akiza started.  
“It loses its biggest advantage,” the head Signer finished.  
“Finishing each other’s sentences now, are you?” Jack asked, deadpan.  
Akiza glared at him.  
“That’s likely easier said than done,” Yami said. “You are both correct, but it used specific examples of things you had done or feared. It made you feel different, like how it isolated Akiza and her abilities, making her feel like she was the only one in the world like that, am I right?”  
Akiza nodded. “But what I’m curious about is the pain it caused Yusei. It’s all well and good playing mind games, but causing actual, physical pain is something entirely different.”  
“I’ve never felt anything like that in my life,” Yusei said, looking down. “It all came from the old wound from Kalin, but it was worse than when I was stabbed in the first place.”  
“Hold up. You were stabbed?” Tristan asked.  
Yusei nodded. “By a piece of road trash after Kalin called out his Earthbound Immortal. It had me shaken for a while afterward, I will admit that,” he said.  
A knock sounded at the door. Crow peeked out the window. “Aw, man, it’s Trudge,” he groaned. “I swear, if he tries to send either of us back to the Facility… this face is too beautiful for another criminal mark! I didn’t even do anything this time!”  
Yusei rolled his eyes. “Crow, we saved the world. He’s not going to send us to prison. But you should hide,” he said to the teens from the past. “Technically, you’re all dead.”  
Despite his grumblings, the tail Signer opened the door to the officer once Yugi and his friends had themselves out of sight. “What now, Trudge?”  
“There’s a new disturbance in the Satellite,” Trudge said. “By the site of the old Ener-D reactor. Did any of the Dark Signers stay Dark Signers?”  
Yusei appeared behind his friend. “No. We know where they all are. Not one of them is under the influence of the shadows.” However, the head Signer had a bad feeling he knew exactly what that new disturbance was.  
“Sector Security wants you guys to check it out with us,” Trudge continued. “Meet us by the reactor tomorrow at noon. I’ll be there. You’d better be.”  
Crow rolled his eyes once he had closed the door. “He’s such a sweetheart, isn’t he?”  
“What were you expecting? He sent you to the Facility more than once and chased me for who-knows-how-long,” Yusei responded.  
“And you were both stupid enough to get caught,” Jack said from across the room, earning himself two glares.  
“Are you going to annoy us all or are you going to concentrate on the thing trying to destroy us?” Akiza snapped.  
“Was that Tetsu Trudge?” Tristan asked in disbelief, standing up from behind the couch.  
“Yeah, why?” Crow asked.  
“We went to high school with him,” Joey answered this time.  
“Got beat up by him, actually,” Tristan muttered.  
“But how are all of us supposed to get to that reactor site when he’s there?” Yami asked. “We’re all supposed to be dead.”  
“Plus we still look like high schoolers,” Téa said.  
“How are we supposed to get there in the first place? Our duel runners don’t work,” Jack reminded them.  
_Think again. I want you to come to me, remember?_  
They all stiffened as they recognized the evil voice from yesterday, but it didn’t do any harm—this time.  
See you tomorrow.  
Then it was gone.  
“What do we do? It wants us to go,” Luna whispered, her face pale.   
“We go,” Yusei said grimly.  
“Right into an evil presence that _tore us apart_ yesterday? Yes, that’s smart,” Seto scoffed.  
“What other choice do we have?” Yusei shot back. “We can face it. We have to.”  
“Even after it caused you pain like it did yesterday?”  
Yusei didn’t waver. “We have to.”  
…….  
Just like the voice had said, the runners worked. Bruno rode his small one, insisting on coming along. They made a quick stop at the twins’ home so Akiza could grab hers, and the two teal-haired members of Team 5D’s found their duel boards. They latched onto the side of Yusei’s runner, which was also carrying Yugi, who was wearing the extra helmet to cover his distinct hairstyle. Joey rode with him as well, while Seto went with Jack and Tristan went with Crow. Mai went with Akiza, and after some debate Téa slipped on Crow’s runner in between him and Tristan. In this fashion, they made their way over the somewhat new Daedalus Bridge. Before meeting with Trudge, the teens from the past were dropped off a bit away so they weren’t recognized.  
Akiza, Yusei, Jack, Crow, Bruno, and the twins went on to the old reactor site, which held some rather unpleasant memories for all of them. Trudge was already there.  
“Took you long enough,” he said gruffly. “Come on.”  
They parked their runners and followed the officer into the crater. Looking back, Yusei could see the small figures of the teens from the past behind them as they descended.  
It was almost pitch-black inside, lit only by the thin beam of Trudge’s flashlight. They passed an all-too-familiar broken bridge, and Yusei gave a little shiver as he remembered dueling Roman Goodwin on that very bridge. This place had them all on edge, and it was eerily silent.  
_Signers and friends, welcome._  
There was a spine-chilling cackle, and Trudge shone his flashlight around furiously. “Who’s there?” he demanded.  
Another laugh. Oh, you won’t be able to see me, I’m afraid. The Signers know what I’m talking about, as do the others behind you.  
Trudge whirled around, catching a flash of the white coat of Kaiba, but that was it. Yugi and his friends did a good job of maneuvering out of the light, staying just outside the beam.  
“Who’s there?” he called out.  
“Trudge, they’re with us. Don’t worry about them,” Yusei said. “Focus on that voice. It’s bad news.”  
_What an understatement._  
Yusei gave a small grunt of pain, but then it was gone. The voice, whatever it was, was toying with him. Giving him that awful burning, then taking it away, significantly dimming the feeling from yesterday.  
_Aren’t you afraid of what I can do, Yusei? I could kill you if I really wished to._  
“Then why don’t you?” Yusei challenged.  
_Because I still need you. You’re going to help me bring about the end of this world._  
“None of us will ever help you!” Yusei stood his ground, defiant.  
_Oh, Yusei. You don’t have a choice._  
A flash of shadow, blacker than the deepest pit, sped by them. Luna screamed, a choked cry full of terror. And then she was gone. The Marks of the Dragon flickered feebly into life, desperately pushing against the shadows, but even they eventually gave in, dying out after one last attempt at a light.  
“I can’t sense her,” Akiza whispered, horrified. “Oh my God, I can’t sense Luna.”


	4. Facing the Darkness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figure out how to use italics on AO3! I'm very proud of myself right now. Anyway, hope you enjoy chapter 4! Advice, ideas, and all of that is appreciated. Flames are ignored. Thanks! (Also, let me know if I made a mistake. It's very likely.)

“Could it be that the Crimson Dragon’s power isn’t working?” Bruno asked. Jack answered for Akiza.  
“No. I can sense everyone here, but not Luna,” he said.  
“Yusei! We’ll search back here, and meet up with you outside the crater in an hour!” Tristan called.  
“Got it!” Yusei yelled back, and the two groups split up, someone turning on a phone flashlight in the group from the past.  
“Why do I recognize that voice…?” Trudge asked himself, frustrated. No one bothered to answer him.  
They searched every nook and cranny, every corner, every shadowed alcove. Luna was nowhere to be found, and the voice had yet to make another appearance. They screamed her name until their voices were hoarse. No answer.  
“Luna!” Leo screamed, his voice breaking. They knew that he was trying to be strong, but he was overcome with fear for his twin. The Signers tried everything, but not one of them could pick up anything on her.  
Their hour passed. They found Téa by the crater, the others having gone into hiding in the hope that Trudge at least wouldn’t recognize her.  
“Did you find anything?” she asked.  
Yusei shook his head. “Nothing. Not a single footprint other than our own.”  
Téa sighed. “It’s like she’s just vanished.”  
_That’s because she has. You won’t find her unless I want you to. I’ll show you the girl and shed some light on my hatred if you swear you won't try anything- at least until I'm done._  
Yusei took a breath, glancing at the others. They nodded.  
“We swear,” the head Signer said finally.  
The kidnapping shadow appeared again, swirling around them. Everything disappeared, and they couldn’t even see each other until the darkness had them where it wanted them.  
“Where are we?” Bruno asked in wonder, gazing at their surroundings. It was a huge room, the ceiling lost in shadow above them. From where they were standing, a path lit by torches led straight to a few steps at the end. And on top of the dais was Luna. She had her knees drawn up to her chest, her arms wrapped around herself. Heavy shackles were locked around her ankles, hammered into the wall behind her.  
“Luna!” Leo yelled. Luna didn’t move.  
_She can’t hear you. You can see her, but she can’t see you. She doesn’t even know you’re there._  
“Release her!” Jack thundered. “She’s just a girl! She’s done nothing to you!”  
_Ah, ah. She’s not just a girl, is she? She’s a Signer. And yes, she has. The Signers ruined my life. So now, I’m going to ruin you._  
For the first time, the voice had a body to go with it. A figure stood on the steps just in front of Luna, clad and hooded in a black robe. The face was hidden.  
All at once, that burning pain shot through Yusei again. He gave a small cry, fighting to stay on his feet, stumbling back into Crow.  
“Yusei?” the tail Signer asked worriedly, now supporting most of his friend’s weight as Yusei struggled.  
Too easy.  
“Stop! Please, stop!” Akiza screamed, close to tears. Luna, chained, unable to see her friends, thinking she was alone. Yusei, experiencing pain unimaginable. And this… _monster_ just stood there, laughing.  
_Why? I was having so much fun._  
“What did we ever do to you? Why do you hate us?” Akiza yelled.  
_The Signers took everything from me. Your Crimson Dragon destroyed my life. Isn’t it only fair that I return the favor?_  
“What did we do to you?” Akiza repeated.  
_Remember your little skirmish with the Dark Signers? Rex Goodwin gave my family a job, to protect the fifth Mark of the Dragon until he could use it. Because of you, he did. When you defeated him, my family lost everything. We didn’t have any money, and we were from the Satellite. We were shunned, unable to find jobs. My little sister starved. My brother got sick. We couldn’t afford the health care. He died. My father left and the stress proved too much for my mother. She lost her mind. All because of you._  
Akiza was stunned. “I’m so sorry that happened to you,” she finally said softly. “But is hurting us going to bring them back? Will it help your family in any way?”  
_No, but it will sure feel good._  
The figure held out a hand, then clenched it into a fist and _twisted_. Yusei screamed, falling to the floor in agony.  
“No!” The Signers and their friends watched helplessly as he writhed on the ground, his breath coming in short, labored gasps.  
_Of course, I don’t need all of you. Have fun living in eternal shadow, surrounded by stuff worse than nightmares, Black Rose. Farewell._  
Both pale hands shot out, a torrent of darkness rushing towards the psychic duelist. She could only stumble back in horror, waiting for the inevitable.  
“Revenge won’t help you!” she shouted, one last time. “You think this will fill that emptiness inside?”  
_Perhaps. Perhaps not. But for now, I can enjoy watching you squirm._  
Akiza squeezed her eyes shut, bringing her hands up to cover her face as the shadows grasped at her, curling round her wrists and ankles, drawing her back in.  
Neither Yugi nor Seto could explain how they knew what they were supposed to do or say. Unseen by the Signers, the shadow had taken the past teens as well. They saw everything, but just before the shadows swallowed Akiza forever, they both went for their decks, throwing out their legendary cards.  
“Come forth, Dark Magician!”  
“Come forth, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!”  
The cards shimmered and changed in midair, the famous beasts taking shape. Dark Magician sprang for Akiza, twirling her neatly out of harm’s way and slashing at the darkness with his staff. Blue-Eyes White Dragon shot a burst of white lightning, stopping the shadows in their tracks. Together, the monsters beat back the darkness, protecting the Signers. With one last slash and mighty flap of wings, the roiling ropes of shadow disappeared. The figure gave an inhuman hiss of anger. Blue-Eyes roared, standing protectively in front of the duelists, tail lashing.  
_I’ll be back. And you won’t be so lucky next time._ With that, the figure disappeared, taking Luna with it.  
Yusei rolled onto his side, coughing, his face ghostly pale. Akiza seemed stunned. Her life had nearly taken a horrific turn. She had almost been trapped in an eternal nightmare.  
The teens from the past appeared next to them, running to their side. Crow and Tristan each slung one of Yusei’s arms over their shoulders, dragging the head Signer back to the other end of the hall, where a door was just visible. He was almost a deadweight, not unconscious but completely out of it. His head hung down, his feet dragging. He was exhausted. Akiza followed, almost in a trance, Téa and Mai walking next to her, worry etched on their faces. The rest of the Signers, Bruno, Leo, Trudge, and Yugi and his friends trailed after them, Dark Magician and Blue-Eyes White Dragon returning to the decks of Yugi and Kaiba. Trudge was staring at them, his mouth hanging open.  
Out in the open, Crow and Tristan carefully leaned Yusei against the side of his runner. Akiza sat next to him, tilting her head up to the sky, breathing hard.  
“We cannot face that again,” Jack said. “We’ll all be killed.”  
“Akiza would be in some shadow world now if Yugi and Kaiba hadn’t interfered,” Bruno pointed out.  
“What about Luna?” Leo asked, his voice quivering.  
“We’re going to save her,” someone said from the ground. Yusei.  
“For Ra’s sake, Yusei!” Yugi exclaimed. “It could’ve killed you right then and there! And even now, look at you!”  
Yusei was pale, standing but leaning heavily on his runner. “But I’m still alive, and it’s going to regret that.”  
Crow sighed. “Are you _trying_ to die?”  
“No. But I think I might have the beginnings of a plan.”


	5. A New Power

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> LAST DAY OF SCHOOL TOMORROW!! Anyway, here's chapter 5 and hope you enjoy. Please review, it makes me happy ;-P

“That is the worst plan that I have ever heard in my life.”  
“We’re all going to die.”  
“Have you even thought about this? At all?”  
The reactions to Yusei’s ‘beginnings of a plan’ were not reassuring. He frowned at his friends.   
“Yusei. Fudo. You’ve lost your mind! Are you sick?”  
Yusei batted Crow’s hand away from his forehead. “No, I am not sick! I know it’s risky--”  
“Risky? Risky? There’s an absolute zero percent chance of success!” This was Mai.   
“Hear me out!” Yusei sighed. “Listen, does anyone else have a better idea?”  
Silence.  
“That’s what I thought. Now, listen. So far, it’s only attacked us one at a time. The rest were too shocked to do anything, but maybe it we can use this to our advantage. There’s fourteen of us including Trudge. It can’t focus on all of us at the same time. So if we all go for it, at least a few of us will get past, and if we can all use our monsters like Yugi and Kaiba did, that gives us an added advantage.” Yusei looked at everyone gathered around him. “It’s our best shot. We need to rescue Luna before that lunatic does anything to her.”  
“I don’t know, Yusei…” Akiza sighed. “It almost killed you last time. Do you want to experience that again?”  
“Not particularly, no,” Yusei admitted. “But even if it was hurting me, the pain lessened even if it was just talking to one of you.”  
“What I want to know is why it can cause Yusei pain like that,” Jack said. “Can it do that to the rest of us?” He looked meaningfully at Leo. The boy didn’t notice, but the older teens did. Jack was right. Leo was only twelve, and had grown up in a rich area in New Domino. Yusei was nineteen, and had grown up in the Satellite. There was a drastic difference between the two, and the pain had driven Yusei into unconsciousness the first time.  
“I do not think that it can,” Yami said. Everyone looked at him for an explanation.  
“What I mean is, the source is an old wound, made worse by the feelings that went along with it. Fear, guilt, anger… am I correct?” the pharaoh looked to Yusei. The head Signer nodded.  
Yami continued. “It’s using a dark shadow magic. I am not certain how, but it may be turning those feelings into a physical pain. Or, the pain isn’t real. It’s an illusion, a memory, but this figure is making the memory worse. What does it feel like, every time?”  
“It feels like being stabbed all over again, but considerably worse,” Yusei admitted. “There’s this sort of… burning that goes along with it, and half the time when I look down I expect to see blood.”  
Yami nodded, satisfied. “Feelings and a memory.”  
“What about the rest of us? I’m pretty sure that the darkness sending Akiza into some shadow world was no illusion,” Crow said.  
“There’s something else,” Akiza said suddenly. “When Yugi and Kaiba summoned their monsters. Dark Magician was able to physically touch me and pull me away. He was real. And, I’m assuming, so was Blue-Eyes White Dragon.”  
“The summoning felt different,” Kaiba said.   
“Like it was using energy,” Yugi said, himself again. “For some reason, exactly what I was supposed to say and do just came into my head at that moment.”  
Kaiba gave an affirmative grunt.  
“We need to find Luna as soon as we can,” Yusei said. “Everyone know what they’re doing?”  
“Rushing headlong into some unstoppable evil and trying not to die,” Crow volunteered.  
“Exactly.”  
…….  
Remembering the path they had taken out, they found their way back into the giant room. The dais was empty, the torches casting eerie shadows on the walls. Their footsteps echoed as they walked. If there was someone here, there was no way that they weren’t aware of the presence of the Signers and their friends.  
_Well, well. Back so soon?_  
“Return Luna to us!” Yusei called.  
_Why? I can’t keep having you come here if you don’t have a reason to._  
“If you have harmed one hair on her head…” Yusei left the sentence hanging, spoken in a low, rage-filled whisper. He rarely lost his temper, but when faced with the possible harming of an innocent girl…  
_Don’t worry, she’s quite safe. A bit frightened, no doubt, but alive and in perfectly good health. I know you want her. Why don’t you come and get her?_  
A curling wisp of shadow grew in front of them, spinning faster, getting bigger. When it disappeared, Luna stood before them, on the steps. She looked around a moment, wide-eyed, and then she spotted them.  
“Leo!”  
“Luna!”  
The boy began to run to his sister, but Jack grabbed the back of his shirt.  
“Jack! Let me go!”  
“No. It’s a trap. I know we all want to run up there and take her away, but that’s exactly what he wants us to do,” Jack said.  
“I don’t care! She’s my sister!”  
“No, Leo, Jack’s right!” It was Luna. Tears were spilling from her eyes, and she quickly wiped them away. “You can’t come up here. It doesn’t feel right. Something bad will happen to anyone who tries, I know it!”  
“But, Luna…” Leo stared at her, ceasing to struggle in Jack’s grip.  
_Doesn’t this just tear at your hearts?_ The figure appeared just behind Luna, a low laugh coming from it. It placed a hand on the girl’s shoulder. She stiffened at the touch.  
_She’s just here, so close, yet you can’t reach her._  
Leo broke free from Jack’s slackened grip and, ignoring shouts of alarm from the others, ran to the figure. “Let my sister go!”  
A wall of darkness rose up in front of him, causing him to come skidding to a stop.  
_Well. The Black Rose was supposed to be the first prisoner in my Shadow World, but I guess you will do. Right in front of your sister, too._  
The shadows began to crash down, but were interrupted by a shout with a very familiar Australian accent.  
“Come forth, Red Dragon Archfiend!”  
The monster burst out in a roar of flame, snatching Leo out of harm’s way.  
_You think that will work on me twice?_  
The shadows split, coming at Jack’s dragon from all sides. There would be no escape. Archfiend curled around Leo as the darkness crashed into them. Jack gave a cry of shock and pain, dropping to one knee.  
“LEO!” Luna was crying openly now, her eyes wide and fixed on the roiling darkness.  
Jack, breathing heavily, forced himself back to his feet. “No,” he muttered. “We’re not losing anyone. We’re Signers. We protect.”  
His Mark burst into life in a blaze of red, but there was something on his back now, and it wasn’t the Mark of the Crimson Dragon. Outlined in black and red was Red Dragon Archfiend, wings spread across Jack’s shoulders, flames in his claws. The real Archfiend began to glow with a pulsing red light, as the Marks of the other Signers flashed into life.  
Yusei ran for Luna, forsaking all caution. He grabbed the girl by the wrist when he was close enough, swinging her onto his back. She gave a small yelp of surprise, and the figure gave a hiss of anger. Pain throbbed through his body. Sweat broke out on his brow, but he refused to stop.  
_No. No. I’m going to keep running. I’m going to save Luna,_ he thought with each step. _I’m. Going. To. Save. Luna._  
The pain intensified, the shadows breaking from Leo and Archfiend, revealing a stunned boy and the red dragon, in favor of all power being focused on Yusei.  
“Crow!” he yelled. It was quieter than he would’ve liked, but the ginger still heard. He turned, just as Yusei pulled the teal-haired Signer off his back and shoved her at Crow. He caught her before she fell, as Yusei dropped to his knees.   
_It’s an illusion. I’m stronger than this,_ he thought, forcing himself to his feet. It sure didn’t feel like an illusion.  
_I’m stronger than this._  
“Come forth, Black Rose Dragon!”  
The rose petal wings and vines were the last things Yusei saw or felt before blacking out.  
_Yusei Fudo. The bearer of the Head.  
Yusei blearily opened his eyes. “Where am I?”  
He seemed to be floating, in the midst of a blanket of stars. There was nothing as far as he could see other than sky in every direction. A dot of red appeared out of the corner of his eye, and he turned in that direction. As the dot grew closer, he could make out a shape.  
I am sorry that I cannot assist you more.  
“Crimson Dragon?”  
Yes, child. This darkness is great. Greater than any one of you can face alone. It claws at me, draining my power.  
Now that Yusei thought about it, the shifting red color didn’t give off that comforting glow that he’d come to know.  
“What… what happened?”  
Akiza Izinski saved you with Black Rose Dragon. Through the strength of two Signer dragons and your friendship and loyalty to each other, I was able to interfere and take all of you to a safe place. Do not attempt to face Merzol again, at least not like you did.  
“Merzol? Is that his name?”  
It is the name he has taken. If you want his given name, you’ll have to ask for that yourself. Listen, child. This new evil has brought a new power to the Signers. The ability to call monsters into true life. Akiza’s abilities differ, as traps and spells are real to her as well. The new tattoo that appeared on Jack’s back was symbolic of this new power. Akiza now has one of Black Rose. The monsters are key. Without them, you cannot beat this.  
“How do we call them?”  
You will know.   
The Crimson Dragon let out a sudden, pain-filled cry. Yusei’s eyes widened. “Crimson Dragon?”  
This is the last time I can assist you, child. Do not forget what I have told you. You have my faith. Together, you can beat this.  
The ancient dragon held Yusei’s gaze, fading until eventually, there was none of it left._


	6. Vanished

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS is surprisingly good. The soundtrack is really cool, too. Anyway, here's chapter 6! Ninjahunter, thank you so so much for leaving kudos on this, it made me very happy ;-). Anyway, on with the story! Let me know thoughts, advice, ideas, or anything you may notice!

Yusei awoke with a start, sitting up and startling Akiza, who gave a yelp of surprise. “Yusei!”  
“Where’s my deck?”  
“What…?”  
“Where’s my deck?” Yusei repeated.  
“Right here.” Akiza handed it to him. “You’re welcome, by the way.”  
“Huh?”  
“I saved your life, idiot.”  
“Oh, right. Thank you.” Yusei took Stardust Dragon out and put the rest of his deck back in the card holder on his belt. A strange sort of energy thrummed through him as his gaze roved over the silver monster he held so dear. _The Crimson Dragon was right, then,_ he thought. _There’s definitely something new._  
“Why did you need Stardust?” Akiza inquired, coming around and peering over Yusei’s shoulder.  
“I had a… I don’t know if it was a dream, exactly, but I saw the Crimson Dragon.” Yusei sighed. “It said that that was the last time it could help, but that this new darkness also brought a new power.”  
“The monsters,” Akiza guessed. “The new tattoos.”  
Yusei nodded. “And Stardust does feel different, somehow.”  
“When the darkness almost took Archfiend and Leo, Jack looked like he felt real pain or something from his dragon,” Akiza said.  
“Yugi and Kaiba said the summoning felt like it actually needed energy,” Yusei replied. “Whatever it is, we need to be careful around this.”  
Akiza nodded. “I wonder if I can summon Black Rose like that again. Even though I could make monsters real before, it feels different this time.”  
“The Crimson Dragon said that we’ll know how to summon when the time comes,” Yusei said. “But right before I woke up, it said, ‘this is the last time I can assist you, child,’ and then it faded. I don’t even feel its power anymore.”  
A clang and a loud curse from outside interrupted them, followed by a “What does that word mean?” It sounded like Crow and Leo.  
Akiza rolled her eyes. “He needs to learn to watch his language around the twins.”  
Yusei chuckled. “Good luck with that.” He looked around, frowning a bit as he took in his surroundings, but then his face brightened. “Hey, I remember this! It was where I used to hang out with Crow, Jack, and Kalin when we were Enforcers. I’m surprised Crow and Jack even remembered it existed.”  
“The Crimson Dragon brought us here,” Akiza said. “It took Crow a good half hour to remember why this place looked so familiar.”  
“He’d forget his head if it wasn’t attached to his neck.”  
“We’re back! Oh, Yusei, you’re awake!” Crow grinned mischievously, kicking the door open with more force than necessary. “Enjoying some quality time with your girlfriend?”  
“Shut up, Crow!” came the response from both. A red shoe, flung with surprising strength, hit the ginger square in the chest. He gave a yelp, stumbling back out the door. Akiza gave a smug grin.  
Luna hid a giggle as she and Leo walked in behind him. “How are you feeling, Yusei?”  
“Battered,” Yusei admitted. “But the Crimson Dragon gave me a clue on how to beat Merzol.”  
“Merzol?”  
“The figure,” the head Signer explained. “The Dragon said that the monsters are the key. That the new evil also brought us a new power.”  
“Like how Archfiend came to life,” Jack put in, skirting the twins and walking over to them. “Does this look familiar to you?” He dropped something in Yusei’s lap.  
Yusei’s eyes widened. It was a yellow hat, marked simply by an orange smiley face in one corner.  
“It’s… it’s Rally’s hat,” he said finally. “What…?”  
“Everyone’s gone,” Jack said bluntly. “Not just them, but everyone in the Satellite. We went out to see if we could find anything strange, and we found nobody.”  
“Just like when the Dark Signers attacked,” Yusei murmured.  
Yugi and his friends returned a moment later. “No one,” the spiky-haired duelist said quietly. “It’s like a ghost town.”  
“Why do you think Merzol needs the people?” Akiza asked, quickly explaining the name of the mysterious shadow figure to the others.  
“The Dark Signers used souls to power up their Earthbound Immortals,” Yusei said. “But as far as we’ve seen, Merzol doesn’t use anything like those Immortals.”  
“Nope, but he could have something worse,” Crow said, coming back inside with hand on his chest dramatically. He threw the shoe back at its owner, who caught it deftly and slipped it back on. “Akiza, that hurt!”  
“You deserved it.”  
Jack rolled his eyes. “Can it, you two. We need to figure out what that lunatic is up to before he destroys us all.”  
Yusei sighed. “Listen, I saw the Crimson Dragon.” That got everyone’s attention quickly. The head Signer explained his meeting with the ancient being and what it had told him.  
“The monsters are key,” Yugi mused.  
“What’s that mean?” Joey asked, staring at Red-Eyes. “Doesn’t look like a key to me.”  
“They’re not literal keys, mutt,” Kaiba sneered. “It means that the monsters are the only thing that can stop this Merzol. Your stupidity never ceases to amaze me.”  
“Watch it, Rich Boy! I could take you on anytime!”  
Kaiba snorted. “I don’t duel dogs.”  
“I am not a dog!”  
Before Joey could start a fight, Jack grabbed his arms, twisting them behind his back.  
“Aw, man, all you Signers are stronger than Tristan,” Joey grumbled.  
“Hey!”  
“It’s true,” the Red-Eyes duelist muttered, futilely struggling against Jack’s grip.  
“If we fight amongst ourselves, Merzol wins!” Yusei yelled, getting up from the couch where he had been deposited. He had to take a second, a hand on the armrest, but as soon as he could, he was between Joey and Kaiba. “Both of you, stop!”  
“Let me at him!”  
“Kaiba! Wheeler! Opposite sides of the room! Go!” It was Akiza, the energy stabilizer in her hair glowing dangerously.  
“I don’t take orders from anyone,” Kaiba scoffed. “What makes you think I’d listen to you?”  
“Last chance. Go.”  
“Dude, for the sake of your life, I would listen to her,” Crow muttered.  
Kaiba stubbornly stood his ground.  
“Fine.” Akiza summoned Rose Tentacles, sending it at Seto and Joey. The monster grabbed both of them by the waist uncomfortably tightly, pulling them roughly away from each other. Both duelists hit opposite walls, then found themselves pinned by the psychic’s beast.  
“Merzol wins if we fight!” Yusei repeated.  
“Asking them not to fight is like asking Yugi not to duel,” Mai muttered.  
“Just this once! The people of the Satellite are missing, we fall apart if we’re in the same room as that guy for two minutes, and he’s tried to send both Akiza and Leo to a Shadow World. Isn’t that enough motive for you?” Yusei threw up his hands in annoyance, stomping up the stairs. They heard a door slam, then nothing.  
“He’s scared for the citizens of Satellite,” Jack said quietly. “That’s why he’s like this.”  
Rose Tentacles dropped Kaiba and Joey. Both stayed away from each other and sulked.  
“I’ll go talk to him,” Akiza said softly, making her way up the stairs. Crow didn’t even make a girlfriend joke.  
…….  
“Yusei?”  
Yusei raised his head briefly before dropping it back onto the pillow. “This used to be my room,” he mumbled. “I used to come here for privacy when I couldn’t stand being around the guys. I’m sorry for uh… you know, losing my temper at Joey and Kaiba.”  
“I don’t blame you,” Akiza said dryly, sitting next to him before seeming to catch herself. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to intrude on anything… do you mind?”  
Yusei gave her a tired grin, swinging his legs around and sitting up beside her. “I don’t mind.”  
“Do you… do you think we can pull this off?” she asked tentatively.  
“I think we can, if we can trust each other and work together,” Yusei answered.  
On a whim, Akiza pulled out her cards. “Come forth, Black Rose Dragon.”  
Yusei felt a pulse of energy from his cards. He took one, summoning it in the same motion. “Come forth, Stardust Dragon.”  
In the small room, the dragons were hunched, but both duelists were still in awe. Yusei held out his hand, pulling off his glove. Stardust gave a loving growl to his master, pushing his nose into the open palm. Yusei breathed a sigh of wonder, feeling the cool silver scales of his beloved Stardust on his skin.  
Akiza did the same to Black Rose, her dragon’s vines curling adoringly around her wrist.  
“We can do this,” she murmured. “Merzol isn’t going to know what hit him.”  
Yusei’s free hand found hers. “Together.”  
Stardust and Black Rose twined their tails together, making Yusei grin.  
“Together,” he repeated, looking a Rally’s hat, lying on his bed. _I promise, Rally,_ he thought, then looked at the girl next to him, her fingers laced with his. _I promise, Akiza. We’ll all get through this- together._  
Then a piercing, terrified scream echoed through the halls of the Enforcers’ old hideout.


	7. Shadows and Visions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SCHOOL'S OUT!! I am in a very very good mood right now! Anyway, here's chapter 7! Hope you enjoy and please review!

Akiza and Yusei exchanged a worried look before running out of the room, their dragons following. When they reached the living room where everyone was gathered, Yusei gave a gasp of horror and Akiza’s hand flew to her mouth. It was Luna. She was on her knees, her head in her hands, eyes squeezed shut and screaming and crying. Leo was by her side, but he didn’t seem to be able to do anything.  
“What happened?” Yusei and Akiza reached the girl’s side and Jack answered.  
“We were talking about this Merzol character, and then she just screamed and collapsed,” the former King said.  
“Could it be the Duel Monsters’ Spirit World?” Yusei asked.  
Jack shrugged, his violet eyes fixed on the troubled claw Signer.  
“Luna! Snap out of it!” Leo said desperately, taking his sister by the shoulders and giving her a little shake. “Luna!”  
The girl only twisted out of his grasp, curling up in the corner.  
_You haven't taken her away from me._  
Merzol’s spine-chilling laugh echoed through the room, and Luna screamed again, talking to someone no one else could see. “No! Leave me alone… I wouldn’t…. no! I didn’t… stop!”  
Leo watched his sister, frozen with fear. Téa attempted to talk to Luna, but it was like they weren’t even there. Akiza tried too, having a sort of big sisterly bond with the girl, but even she prompted no reaction from the teal-haired Signer.  
“STOP!” Luna gave one last cry before shuddering and falling still. Fearing the worst, Yusei ran to her side, feeling her wrist for a pulse. It was there, but when her eyes opened, they were blank. Wherever she was, she wasn’t with the Signers.  
…….  
Luna recognized the towering trees surrounding her, but unlike the previous times she’d been there, the forest was completely silent. There were no Duel Monsters here.  
“Regulus?” No answer.  
“Ancient Fairy Dragon?” Nothing.  
“Torunka?” Silence.  
“Okay…” Luna walked tentatively forward, mist wreathing the giant trunks around her. The only sounds were her own breathing and soft footsteps in the grass. Then, a familiar roar split the air.   
“Stardust!” Luna’s tentative steps turned into feet pounding the grass as she sprinted towards the sound. Another cry. It sounded like Archfiend, followed by one that sounded like Blackwing Dragon.  
She burst into a clearing, stopping short at the sight in front of her. There was Yusei, sitting atop Stardust. Akiza, on Black Rose and Jack on Archfiend. Crow was riding Blackwing, and even the teens from the past were there. Yugi, standing beside Dark Magician, Kaiba atop Blue-Eyes, and Mai with Harpy Lady. Joey was beside Seto atop Red-Eyes, and for once they weren’t arguing. Tristan and Téa stood behind with Ancient Fairy Dragon.  
“Akiza! Yusei! Ancient Fairy Dragon!” Luna called desperately, running to them, but she immediately came up against what seemed to be an invisible wall. She couldn’t get through, and not one of her friends heard her. Their attention was focused on the ground in front of them. Cracks zigzagged through the shriveled brown grass, and then the ground fell in. The biggest dragon Luna had ever seen rose from the depths of the pit, towering over even Archfiend and Stardust. It was a solid black, like the shadows Merzol used. Its gleaming red eyes were the only color, until it opened its mouth and roared, rows and rows of glistening white teeth showing themselves to the Signers and their friends. Jack attacked first. Archfiend avoided blasts of dark flame, but its wing was caught. It went down with a cry of pain, the shadow dragon catching Jack on its claws.   
“No!” Luna screamed, the former King falling lifelessly to the ground. It went for Crow next, then Akiza. Then Yugi, Kaiba, Joey and Mai. Ancient Fairy Dragon protected Téa and Tristan for as long as she could, but she couldn’t stand against the darkness. All three were obliterated by the black fire. Then the only two left were Yusei and Stardust. They held out for as long as they could, but even they were no match for the evil. Luna was sobbing, pounding at the wall as she watched helplessly. Then a flash of teal caught her eye. Leo, sprinting away, his eyes wide and terrified. The dragon saw him too, and was much faster than the boy.  
“NO! STOP! LEO!” Luna fell to her knees. Her heart felt like it had been ripped into shreds by the very claws that has taken the lives of her friends and brother. She felt like she was falling, spiraling into a bottomless pit from which she could never climb out…  
_See what happens when anyone dares to stand against me?_  
Luna felt too broken to answer.  
_This was a vision of the future. My Shadow Dragon will rise, and when it does, I will slaughter every last one of your friends and your brother and I will make you watch. If they fight, this will be a reality. You saw my Shadow. How will anyone stand against it?_  
…….  
When Luna awoke suddenly after being out for three days, Akiza was the one taking care of her. Immediately, the girl started babbling incoherently about Merzol and Shadow Dragons and her and Yusei. It took a while for her to calm down.  
“Luna!” Akiza drew her into a hug, and could feel with a jolt the girl’s tears dripping onto her neck.  
“But you couldn’t stop it…” was the tearful reply.  
“Stop what? What are you talking about?” Akiza asked gently.  
“Merzol… he called a Shadow Dragon and it killed all of you… and he said that if you faced him he’d kill you in real life and I’d have to watch…”  
Akiza saved the teal-haired Signer the pain of repeating her ordeal to the rest. The psychic duelist left her in her room and told everyone else.  
“Then we have to stop him from calling this Shadow Dragon,” Yusei said.  
“Uh, guys?” Crow had found a working television the day before, and now his eyes were glued to a news report.  
“These strange pillars of black fire have been appearing all over the world,” the reporter was saying. “People are disappearing every day, and no one knows how to stop it.”  
“Crow! Give me that map!”  
Crow, while confused, pulled a map down from the wall and gave it to Yusei. The raven-haired Signer worked quickly, marking the locations of the black fire pillars and connecting the dots. They formed a shape. Not complete yet, but it wasn’t hard to tell what it was supposed to be.  
“A dragon’s head…” Akiza said.  
Just like in Luna’s dream, the head of a massive dragon was taking shape on Yusei’s map.


	8. Lost in Shadow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that took forever, I got caught up with updating chapter 18 on FanFiction.net! But chapter 18 is here. Hope you enjoy!  
> Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, those rights belong to Kazuki Takahashi. But I do own Merzol, his Shadow Dragon, and this plot.

“So, here’s what we know: Merzol’s planning to summon an unstoppable Shadow Dragon and according to Luna’s dream it kills us all,” Crow said.  
“It won’t kill us in reality,” Kaiba said. It was the first thing he’d said in quite a while, and everyone turned to look at him.  
“And why is that, may I ask?” Jack asked with mock politeness.  
“Because, you morons, the Crimson Dragon told Yusei that the monsters are the keys. While you’re sitting here fretting about some supposedly unstoppable dragon, you could be practicing and getting stronger,” the Blue-Eyes duelist said.  
“He’s right,” Yusei put in before anyone could protest. “Currently, we wouldn’t survive two seconds if Merzol does summon this Shadow Dragon. But with practice and by working together, we can become strong enough to beat this.”  
Kaiba snorted. “I don’t need teamwork. I could fight this perfectly fine on my own.”  
“You couldn’t, and you know it,” Yusei shot back. “Not one of us would live if we tried to beat Merzol on our own.”  
Sapphire met sapphire as their gazes locked, and the entire room seemed to hold its breath. Eventually, the unthinkable happened. Seto Kaiba backed down.  
“Fine,” he muttered, and stalked off to the other side of the room.  
“Dude, do you know what you just did?” Tristan asked in astonishment. “You just won a stare-off with Seto Kaiba.”  
“I don’t care if he was the President of the United States,” Yusei grumbled. “I just care that everyone does their part and is aware that we need to work together to beat this.”  
“What about the Shadow Dragon and the black fire?” Akiza asked.  
“Is there a pillar in the Satellite?” Yusei asked.   
Jack shrugged. “We were looking for people, not fire. We didn’t see any.”  
“Neither did we,” Yugi added.  
“My guess is that they appear wherever people disappear, and that could be why he’s taking people from certain areas,” Yusei said. “Did you see how the map of the disappearances seemed totally random? I’m guessing that they’re not. The pillars need some sort of energy force to appear, and Merzol is using people to do it.”  
“And when he had enough, all of the pillars will appear in that pattern and he’ll be able to call the Shadow Dragon,” Akiza finished grimly.  
A roar interrupted any answer. Kaiba had succeeded in calling forth Blue-Eyes. The famous dragon was curled in front of him, but it still managed to look fearsome. Seto leaned back with a satisfied smirk.  
“He’s not better than me!” Joey proclaimed loudly. He set about summoning Red-Eyes. It took him a few tries. On the last attempt, he really concentrated on the card in his hand, feeling the bond he had with the monster. Within ten seconds, the black dragon crouched beside Blue-Eyes.  
“Aw, yeah! I did it!” the blond jumped up with a shout of excitement.  
“I do not understand any of this,” Trudge said finally. It was the first word he’d said in a few days, and some had forgotten he was there. (Including me, actually. Whoops.)  
“What? Dead duelists coming back from the past? Evil shadows and darkness? Monsters becoming real? Black fire pillars? Dreams of death? Which don’t you understand?” Crow asked sarcastically.  
Trudge glared at him, and Téa quickly stepped between them.   
“Chill out, guys,” she said. “This has us all on edge. Go practice summoning, Crow.”  
Crow frowned at her, but did as he was told. Once he had calmed down somewhat, Blackwing Dragon crowded the room even more.  
“Why don’t we take this outside?” Leo asked, stuck behind Crow’s monster.  
Despite the situation, Mai gave a small grin at the boy’s predicament while Téa stifled a giggle. Akiza bit her lip, trying not to laugh while Leo glared at them all.   
“It’s not funny!” he yelped, trying futilely to maneuver himself out from Blackwing and the wall.  
Eventually, the duelists found an empty lot in which they could practice. Soon enough, the space was filled with dragons, magicians, harpies, and the like. The problem was keeping the concentration long enough to do something with the beasts.  
“No!” Crow swore loudly as Blackwing faded from existence yet again.  
“What does that mean? You say it a lot,” Leo said.  
Akiza gave Crow a playful whip with Black Rose’s vines. “I told you not to say that in front of him!”  
“Hey! Are you trying to kill me before we even face Merzol?” the ginger yelped.  
“Thinking about it, yes!” Akiza answered, trying her hardest not to smile. Black Rose gave Crow another slap.  
“Oh, not fair! This is easy for you, and you can’t attack some poor defenseless soul like me!” Crow protested, going for the innocent approach.  
“Those markers on your face say you’re the exact opposite.”  
The tail Signer glared at her, summoning Blackwing again. Stardust swooped in front of Akiza, twirling in a dazzling show of silver—and then faded.  
“Agh!” there was a quiet curse from behind her, and Akiza turned to see Yusei. She stifled a giggle while the raven-haired teen brought out his dragon again.  
“You know, you’re not safe from Black Rose either,” she said mischievously.  
“Wha—hey!” A vine curled around Yusei’s ankles, hoisting him up into the air until he dangled upside down in front of Akiza.  
“How do you keep your concentration like that?” he asked, gesturing to the still very much alive Black Rose Dragon.  
“I guess I’m used to it. I don’t really need to think about it too much anymore. Being psychic is similar.” Akiza grinned, and with a playful glint in her eye, Black Rose dropped Yusei.  
“Ow!”  
“Come on, I’ll help you. I think you just need something to focus on that calms you. It helps me for sure,” the psychic continued.  
“What do you think about?” Yusei interrupted.  
Akiza’s cheeks went a shade of red, and Yusei grinned.  
“Like this?” he summoned Stardust again, closing his eyes and concentrating. The silver monster flew around the lot, agilely avoiding Blue-Eyes, Black Rose, and Dark Magician. Those monsters had been out the longest. Kaiba could concentrate on work for days straight. He didn’t need too much practice for his dragon. Akiza’s psychic powers helped her with Black Rose, and Yami helped Yugi keep control of his monster. Stardust flickered briefly, but kept its shape, landing in front of them with a familiar cry.  
Yusei smiled. Akiza had an idea, and Black Rose helped her out. It gently curled a vine around her waist, depositing her on its back. With one mighty flap of its wings, the dragon took off. Akiza gave a whoop of joy, the wind flinging her burgundy hair out behind as she clung to her dragon’s mane of rose petals.  
A moment later, a silver wing slipped into Akiza’s vision. She turned her head in surprise, seeing Yusei beside her.  
“Guess what helped me focus,” he whispered, and then Stardust put on a burst of speed, pulling quickly away.  
Akiza’s face turned red, and then she chased him, laughing. Blue-Eyes White Dragon and Kaiba joined them in the air a moment later, followed by a slightly wobbly Jack. Crow and Blackwing shot up a few minutes after him, followed by Mai, carried by Harpy Lady, and Dark Magician carrying Yugi. Red-Eyes was the last in the air with Joey. The teens flew, letting the wind take their worries away, if only for the moment.  
When they reentered the Enforcers’ old hideout, Luna and Leo (who had gone back early out of worry for his sister and frustration that he couldn’t keep his concentration) were sitting on the couch with Trudge, watching the TV with wide eyes. Two more pillars had appeared that afternoon, roughly a million people in total missing. The lightened mood immediately disappeared.  
“We can’t wait for this Merzol to summon his Shadow Dragon,” Kaiba said. “We have to take him out before he does.”  
“That’s going to be pretty tough,” Crow responded. “According to the map, he probably only needs, like, four more to complete that head.”  
“We have a day at most,” Yusei said grimly. “We don’t have the Crimson Dragon, and there’s a drastic difference between practicing in an empty lot and facing a behemoth like that Shadow Dragon.”  
 _I choose the most convenient times, don’t I? That Crimson Dragon cloaked you for as long as it could, but it’s gone now. Say goodbye to your supposed savior._  
Merzol wasn’t visible, but his presence was felt by everyone. Shadows swirled around the edges of the room, closing in on the small group.  
 _I will summon my Shadow Dragon. The world that wronged me so will feel the pain I felt. Losing loved ones, losing their world… and it starts with you. You will not stop me._  
Blue-Eyes, Stardust, and Black Rose immediately circled the group, joined by Archfiend and Blackwing a moment later. But by then, it was too late. Merzol was stronger. Much stronger than he was before. The monsters were barely any hindrance to him. With roars of pain, the dragons shattered under the weight of the darkness. Their duelists fell with a cry, and the evil crashed in on them like a wave. When it cleared, they were gone, with no clue that they had been there. They had been taken to the Shadow World, and now no one stood in Merzol’s way.


	9. Creatures of Nightmare

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I was a total baka and posted the same chapter twice, so then I had to delete three and now I need to repost them with the correct part of the story.   
> I don't own any Yu-Gi-Oh!, Kazuki Takahashi does. I only own this plot, Merzol, the Shadow Dragon and the Shadow World.

Yusei blearily opened his eyes. He felt a sudden pain in his chest, and he gasped, but it was gone as quickly as it came. He blinked, waiting for his eyes to adjust, but they never did. There was no light for him to see by. The air was heavy and moist, and the ground was damp beneath him. He shivered, the cold seeming to seep into his very bones. Taking deep breaths, he analyzed his situation. Stuck in a freezing, pitch black Shadow World full of nightmares that he wouldn’t even be able to see until they were killing him. Wonderful. He groped around in his jacket pockets, praying that he had some sort of light in the random odds and ends he was always finding in his pockets. No… nothing… just when he thought he had nothing, his hand closed around something cool and round. A penlight! Not entirely ideal, but it was all he had. He clicked it on, and the thin beam pierced the darkness, illuminating something he definitely did not want to see. With a startled yelp, he jumped back, away from the grotesque face in front of him. It smiled, beginning a slow, haunting laugh, revealing rows of wickedly pointed teeth. He didn’t wait to see what it would do next. He turned and ran as fast as he could, the thin beam of light swinging wildly. He didn’t know where he was going. He didn’t know how he was going to get out. He didn’t know where his friends were. He didn’t know how long he’d already been here. And he had no idea whether Merzol had succeeded in summoning the Shadow Dragon yet. There were an awful lot of important things he didn’t know.  
………  
Yugi sat up in a rush, a voice yelling his name in his ear.  
“I’m up, Grandpa!” he yelped, momentarily forgetting what had happened.  
“I do not sound anything like your grandfather, Yugi,” Yami said, his transparent form hovering just in front of the short teen.  
“Maybe a little bit,” Yugi muttered defensively. He stood, taking in his surroundings—or trying to. It was completely black. He couldn’t see anything, but he could tell that it was damp and cold. He shivered.  
“Where are we?” he asked.  
“I’m assuming we’re trapped in Merzol’s Shadow World,” Yami said. His glowing form was the only thing Yugi could see, and about a foot around him. He hovered experimentally around his hikari, casting light around them. Nothing but springy wet grass, dull and colorless. Mist wreathed the land, and there was no sky. Just darkness. Yami took the lead, casting a thin, wavering light wherever he went. The only thing that concerned Yugi was that he couldn’t see behind or to the side of him. He stuck close to Yami, trying not to let his fear show.  
A low growl sounded behind them. Yami whirled, getting between Yugi and the sound, even though he was transparent. His wavering light illuminated an ominous looking shadow, and then it darted forward. Yami and Yugi only saw a flash of gleaming white teeth and red eyes before they turned tail and ran, hoping to Ra that they could find a way out and their friends.  
……..  
Akiza pushed herself into a kneeling position, gasping and doubling over when a sharp pain shot through her chest, but it was gone as quickly as it had come. She stood warily, squinting at her surroundings, but she couldn’t see anything. She didn’t have any form of light on her at that time, and she didn’t want to run headlong into darkness which, according to Merzol, was filled with nightmares. She heard footsteps behind her; she slowly, cautiously started to walk forward. The footsteps quickened, and Akiza walked faster. The soft thumps followed. When she heard a growl, she forsook all caution and ran blindly, fear taking over. Unable to see her stalker, unable to see what was in front of her, she had no idea what she was running into. She ran until she could barely run anymore, and then forced her legs to move just a few steps further. She continued, her breathing harsh, scraping her throat. Her panicked race was abruptly cut short when she collided with something—or rather, someone. A surprised squeak greeted her.  
“Who is that?” the someone asked tentatively.  
Akiza could hardly believe her ears. “Téa?”  
“Akiza?”  
“Yes! Do you know where anyone else is?”  
“No, hold on… I think I have my phone on me…” There were rustling sounds as the brunette searched her pockets, and eventually a bright flash as she turned on her phone flashlight. It wasn’t much, but it was decidedly better than nothing. The light illuminated the wide, scared eyes of both girls, and about a meter of dry grass and fog. Akiza knew that her stalker hadn’t disappeared, but the light made her feel better, and it hadn’t shown anything dangerous so far.  
“What do we do now?” Téa asked finally.  
Akiza shook her head. “I have no idea. We look for others, I guess.”  
The two set out, warily waving the phone in an arc, trying to see as much as they could. They found no one, and nothing, and then Akiza spotted something on the ground.   
“What is that?” she asked, bending down and picking it up to get a better look. It was a Duel Monsters card, but then she realized that it wasn’t. It was a locket in the shape of a card. When she opened it, a picture of a smiling raven-haired boy greeted her.  
Téa peered over her shoulder, and gave a small “oh!” of surprise.  
“You know who this belongs to?” Akiza asked.  
Téa nodded. “It’s Kaiba’s,” she said. “That boy in the picture is his younger brother, Mokuba.”  
“The rope’s snapped,” Akiza noted. “Think he got it caught on something?”  
“On what?” Téa gestured to the empty expanse of land around them.  
“Right.” Akiza didn’t want to say it out loud, but she knew that it was the only other option. “Something broke it,” she said. “Maybe it jumped at him and he moved just in time, but it caught the locket.”  
“Akiza…” Téa was shining the light on something in the grass, something much more ominous. Blood spattered the ground. A lot of it, and claw marks gouged the dirt. Whatever had ripped away Kaiba’s locket had obviously gotten him, too. And from the looks of it, he was in bad shape.  
…….  
Seto didn’t know where he was going. He only knew that he’d felt some sort of pain when Blue-Eyes was destroyed by the shadows, and that almost as soon as he’d woken up in this place, some creature had leaped at him. He’d moved quickly the first time, startled, and it had only caught his locket. But it was fast, and he couldn’t see it. It went for him again. This time, he wasn’t so prepared, and razor claws had ripped into his stomach. He was holding the wound with one hand, his fingers wet and sticky with his own blood. He knew it was bad, even without seeing it, if the pain was anything to go by. And the amount of blood he’d lost was rather alarming, to say the least. The shadow creature had given him a good few minutes to run, and then went for its prey again, this time slashing his leg. So now he was limping heavily, his stomach bleeding profusely, and a deadly creature that he couldn’t even see was after him. Just perfect.  
A thin beam of light split the shadows ahead of him. He limped faster, toward it, gritting his teeth. The light was moving wildly, getting closer. Seto didn’t call out just yet, but every bone in his body wanted to desperately.   
Eventually, he could make out a figure. A figure with rather recognizable hair that he had privately likened to a crab.  
“Yusei?” he croaked out, his voice weaker than he would’ve liked. The figure stopped, shining the light in the direction he heard his name.  
“Kaiba! What happened?” Yusei ran over, worriedly eyeing the blood seeping from between the brunet’s fingers.  
“Shadow… creature…” Seto answered, his breathing labored. He dropped to one knee. He hated being on his knees in front of anyone else, but try as he might to get back to his feet, he just couldn’t.  
“I need you to work with me here,” Yusei was saying, but it seemed distant. “There was something after me too, I need you to help me with this…”  
The raven-haired teen was pulling one of Seto’s arms over his shoulders, heaving him to his feet. They stumbled along as fast as they could, Kaiba almost a deadweight now. He managed to keep some of his weight off Yusei, but it was getting harder just to keep his eyes open. The darkness seemed so inviting, like maybe if he just rested for a while, the pain would go away…  
“Kaiba! Kaiba!” Yusei shook him roughly, jolting him back to his senses. The two of them continued in their stumbling, halting walk, when a haunting laugh sounded alarmingly close.  
Yusei swore. “Not this again!”  
His odds weren’t good. Seto had closed his eyes; he was unconscious, and not much help at all. Yusei was facing a laughing shadow creature with rows of rather lethal teeth, and carrying around a half dead teenager, a penlight, and a screwdriver. He wasn’t sure if he could fight his way out of this one. His hand flew to his deck, but he didn’t feel that familiar thrum of energy. It was dull, lifeless, his monsters’ spirits gone. He stumbled back a few steps, and felt claws slash his back. He gave a cry of pain, falling to a knee. He forced himself up again, which wasn’t easy, considering he had an unconscious Kaiba to worry about as well. No monsters. No Crimson Dragon. Wounded. He didn’t know how he would get out of this alone, much less with Seto. The haunting laugh battered his hearing, before he felt sharp teeth sink into his calf, and then let go, toying with him. He fell forward, unable to support both his and Seto’s weights anymore.  
_I’m sorry,_ he thought, just before a heavy object smashed into his head from behind and he blacked out.


	10. Trust No One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm just gonna update as fast as I can until I'm up to date with what I have on FanFiction!

Crow sat up with a cavernous yawn. He stretched, standing, momentarily forgetting what had happened and reaching for the light switch, only to discover that there wasn’t one. His hand swiped through empty air.  
“What the--? Ah!” Crow gave a cry of surprise as he felt a sudden sharp pain through his chest, but then it was gone before he could really think about it. He frowned, and carefully took a step forward. He couldn’t see anything, and he didn’t have any sort of light on him. His hand automatically went to his deck, but it felt different. Lifeless.  
“Hello?” He called.  
“Hello?” a voice said from behind him, a perfect imitation. Crow whirled, but he could barely see his own hand in front of his face.  
“Who’s there?”  
“Who’s there?”  
“Stop that!”  
“Stop that!”  
Crow threw his hands up in defeat and started walking. He didn’t know where, but he just felt for some reason that he should get away from that eerily accurate imitation of his own voice. He didn’t know how long he marched for, just that he was going somewhere. He saw no sign of any living creature, other than the copycat. He had refrained from saying anything else, and he didn’t even know if it was still there.  
“Hello?” he called again.  
“Hello?”  
Crow sighed in frustration. “Just go away already!”  
“Just go away already!”  
Crow stomped off, the grass crackling under his feet. He felt trapped in a dark, mostly silent box. A very large box. The Shadow World might just bore him to death. He walked for what seemed like an eternity, until he heard someone who didn’t sound exactly like him call out. ‘’Hello?”  
“Who is that?” Crow called back.  
“Crow? Crow, it’s Leo!”  
“Leo!”  
Suddenly the boy had wrapped his arms around Crow’s waist, burying his head in the tail Signer’s stomach.  
“I woke up and—and Luna’s gone and I don’t know what to do and I couldn’t find anyone and it’s dark and I can’t see and--”  
“Shh…shh… Leo, I know, I woke up like that too…” Crow didn’t really know what to do to console the distraught boy. Instead, he just stood there, rather awkwardly, his arms around the Morphtronic duelist’s shoulders.  
“Let’s see if we can find anyone else, okay?” he asked eventually.   
Leo stepped back and nodded, sniffling and rubbing his eyes. He clutched Crow’s hand tightly in his own, staying close. They continued carefully through the darkness, all senses alert. After a long while, Crow saw a light. He began to walk faster, breaking into a jog. “Hey! Over here!”  
Whoever was the owner of the light didn’t move. Crow frowned. There was no way they couldn’t have heard him… right? He ran faster, a sense of dread filling him.  
The source of the light turned out to be a penlight. Crow looked it over before picking it up. He thought it was Yusei’s, but then again, anyone could have a penlight. They weren’t exactly rare. He walked a few feet with it, Leo still clinging to his hand when he spotted the dark shapes on the ground. Cold fear curled in his gut, and he looked once at Leo before looking forward again, taking a few tentative steps. The light illuminated a familiar crab-shaped hairdo.  
“Yusei?”  
No answer.  
“Leo, close your eyes,” Crow commanded gently. The boy obeyed without question, turning away and hugging the ginger’s arm even tighter. The tail Signer, meanwhile, knelt, light in hand. He carefully turned Yusei’s head towards him, and gasped in horror. The head Signer’s face was covered in blood. There was a deep scratch along his cheek by his criminal mark, just missing his eye. The rest of his body wasn’t so lucky. Three deep gashes ran diagonally across his back, looking like claw marks. Puncture wounds were on his calf, looking like they were caused by teeth. One arm was bent at an awkward angle, but whatever had hurt him like this hadn’t finished the job. He was breathing, but shallowly. Crow shone the light around, briefly wondering in a panicked moment if the shadow creature was still there, but he saw nothing. Not even his copycat. What he did see, however, was a white coat, a few feet away. He tugged Leo gently to his feet, making sure the teal-haired duelist’s eyes were still shut tightly.  
“Oh, my God,” Crow whispered, aghast. He swore softly, kneeling beside Seto Kaiba. The Blue-Eyes duelist was pale, one arm thrown across his torso and the other flung out onto the ground, legs splayed, as if he’d been tossed. But Crow wasn’t wondering what was strong enough to throw the brunet. He was more focused on the wound. He’d first noticed that Seto’s hands were stained red with blood. Then, as the thin light revealed more of his body, the four deep gashes across his stomach, beginning just below his ribs and ending just above his waist. His white coat wasn’t so white anymore. One leg was badly cut, his ankle twisted painfully. Crow had to turn away when he thought he saw bone. For one, panicked moment, the ginger thought he might be dead. But then Kaiba took one, rattling breath, then another. They were shallow and uneven, but at least he was alive. The next problem was what to do with both injured teens. He couldn’t move them on his own. They were both taller than he was, plus he had Leo to worry about. He didn’t want the boy to see two of his idols like this. He thought he might be sick at the sight of the terrible wounds, and he’d seen a lot growing up in the Satellite. He needed help, but he wasn’t so sure about calling out anymore. What if the creature was still around? What he failed to realize, though, was that there were differences. Yusei had three long gashes across his back, while Kaiba had four across his stomach. Why would the creature hold back one claw on Yusei, unless they were different beasts altogether?  
……….  
Akiza and Téa were following the trail of blood left by Kaiba when they heard crying.  
“Did you hear that?” the psychic duelist asked the past teen when she first heard it. Téa frowned a moment, then nodded as the quiet sobs were within earshot.  
“Think it’s a trick or an actual person?” Akiza asked.  
Téa shrugged. “I don’t know… listen.”  
The sobs continued, getting closer. “H-hello? Anyb-body?” Whoever it was had a bad stutter, whether it was out of fear or not the girls couldn’t tell.  
“Wait a minute… that sounds like Luna!” Akiza said, horrified at the thought of the frail young girl alone in a place like this.  
“Luna?” Téa called, waving the light like a beacon.  
“T—Téa?” The light was obviously seen; a moment later, the teal-haired Signer came running out of the darkness, wrapping her arms tightly around the brunette’s waist.   
“I woke up and I heard sounds and then a scream and it sounded like Yusei but I couldn’t find Leo or anybody and—and--”  
“Shh, Luna, shh,” Téa said gently, stroking the terrified girl’s hair and exchanging a worried look with Akiza. A scream that sounded like Yusei? Had Merzol somehow managed to cause pain in this godforsaken place? Or had he been caught by something worse?  
“We’re safer together,” Akiza said. “We’re going to go look for the others, okay?”  
“O—okay.” Luna sniffled, clutching the psychic duelist’s arm tightly. While she felt comfortable around Téa, she’d known Akiza for a lot longer and had a sort of sisterly bond with her. The three of them continued forward, following the blood trail, but the older teens made sure that Luna didn’t see it. Injuries caused by the Dark Signers weren’t graphic, but they had a feeling that this would be different.  
There seemed to be more blood now. Either Kaiba had been hit again, which was likely, or something had worsened the original wound. Téa and Akiza exchanged a worried look before continuing, slower now. A moment later, they heard a familiar voice.   
“Crow?” Akiza asked. He sounded close.  
“Akiza!” The tail Signer stepped into the light, revealing himself. He seemed scared.  
“Listen, there are… things here,” he said, looking around furtively, brown eyes worried. Akiza frowned at him. Something was off.  
“Crow, what’s the name of your foster mother?” she asked suddenly.  
“Why does that matter? We need to go!” the ginger said worriedly.   
Then it hit the claw Signer. Crow’s eyes weren’t brown. They were gray. And he would’ve answered ‘Martha’ without a second thought—if it had been the real Crow.   
“You’re not Crow Hogan,” she said, with more confidence than she felt. The fake Crow grinned, revealing wickedly pointed teeth. His form shifted, changing into a snake-like thing, huge and coiled.  
“Well, kudos to you for figuring it out,” it drawled, slithering out of the light of Téa’s phone. Akiza took a startled step back, whirling around, trying to catch it with the beam. It always evaded her. She heard a slight sound of scales on dry grass behind her. Téa shoved Luna between the two older girls, trying to protect her.  
“Futile. Once I kill you, it will barely be worth my energy to nab her.” The voice hissed in laughter, sending chills down Akiza’s spine. She whirled once again with the flashlight, just catching the tail before it slithered out of view. Akiza closed her eyes, concentrating. The snake-thing seemed to hate the light. Maybe if she caught it full on, right in the face…  
The scales through grass sound stopped. All was silent, except for the rapid breathing and racing hearts of the three girls. A slight rustle from behind her caught Akiza’s attention. Trusting her instincts, she waited for a few seconds more. The rustling came again. This time, she snapped the light around. Just as the creature lunged forward, the bright light flashed in its eyes. It gave a bloodcurdling scream, before bursting into little pieces of shadow.  
Breathing heavily, Akiza turned to Téa and Luna. “Are you all right?”  
Téa nodded. With a glance at the teal-haired Signer, she said, “Shaken, but okay.”  
Akiza turned the light back to the trail. They had to find the others quickly. As long as their whereabouts were unknown to each other, creatures like that snake could take advantage of them. She knew that others, like the real Crow, Jack, Joey, or Tristan might not pay such attention to detail as she had. They may not even know the true eye color or whatnot of their friends. And if they got roped in by one of those… Or worse, if the monsters got better at details and hiding their true forms? They might not know until it was too late. And if they couldn’t trust their own friends, who could they trust? How would they survive without the support of each other?


	11. Venom and Vicious Tricks

Joseph Wheeler did not get scared. At least, that’s what Joey was telling himself as he wandered through the darkness. He woke up, disoriented and confused, and had been walking in the shadows for God knows how long. He hadn’t seen any sign of life, not even from any of the supposed creatures of nightmare that Merzol kept here.   
“Hello?”  
Still nothing. He couldn’t even see any lights. He knew Téa had her phone, and he presumed that the Yusei person had something with him. He had found a few random—but helpful—odds and ends in his pockets in the few days that Joey had known him. Mai probably had her phone with her as well. But he couldn’t see anything. In darkness like this, lights should be easy to spot… right?  
Grass rustled behind him. Joey jumped, startled.  
“Hey! Get out here and face me like a man! I’m not afraid of you!” he yelled, shaking his fist at the darkness. No answer.  
“You’re just being paranoid,” Joey told himself, starting to walk again. He cast his gaze around the empty, black land around him, when he thought he saw a flash to his right. He turned and began to jog in that direction, hoping that it was a human.  
“Hey! Who is that?”  
The light turned. “Joey?”  
“Mai!”  
Joey ran to the blonde, stopping in front of her. He rather awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets, wondering if he was supposed to hug her, but Mai solved that problem for him. She flung her arms around him, earning a rather startled yelp from the Red-Eyes duelist.  
“Joey! Oh, it feels like I’ve been wandering this place forever!”  
“You and me both, Mai,” Joey answered, glad that the blonde couldn’t see that he was blushing furiously. Eventually, she released him, blowing a lock of hair out of her face.  
“I haven’t seen any living thing other than you,” she explained. “I woke up here, and I was just lucky that I remembered my phone.” She waved around the device—and currently their only source of light—for emphasis.  
Joey nodded. “Same happened to me. How big do you think this place is?”  
Mai shrugged. “Hopefully not too big that we’ll never find anybody else.”  
“Think they’re all alone too? And what about those nightmare thingies?” Joey asked.  
“I haven’t see any, but if everyone’s alone--” Mai paused, her eyes widening. “Joey, don’t turn around.”  
Of course, Joey turned around. “Wha--? Ah!” He leaped back in shock. The face was a solid obsidian black, angular and sharp with beady yellow eyes. It moved jerkily, in stops and starts like a rusted robot, but Joey and Mai could tell that behind that it was incredibly fast. It had a somewhat humanoid shape, with two arms and two legs, but it walked on all fours, looking like a sort of overgrown spider. It hissed at them, revealing deadly fangs that dripped some sort of liquid, sizzling when it dropped to the ground.  
“You just had to look, didn’t you?” Mai muttered.  
“Sorry, but if you say ‘don’t turn around,’ I’m gonna be curious!” Joey said indignantly, not taking his eyes off the spider-thing. It hissed at them, making a strange clicking in the back of its throat.  
“Do we run?” Joey asked out of the corner of his mouth, backing away slowly and unknowingly grabbing Mai’s hand.  
“Um…” Mai looked behind her, and back to the spider-thing. It hissed, revealing a mouth full of fangs, taking another step forward. In response, the two duelists took another two steps back. With another click, the creature cocked its head, its gaze roving over them. Then, without warning, it hissed again and leaped, the teens just barely scrambling out the way. They turned and ran in blind panic, but suddenly it was in front of them, causing them to skid to a stop and run in the opposite direction.  
“I didn’t…even…see it…move!” Mai panted, her violet eyes wide and terrified.  
Joey just shook his head, pulling her along as he ran for his life. The spider-creature leaped from the shadows to his right, and the Red-Eyes duelist shoved Mai back.   
“Turn, turn!” he said through gritted teeth. The spider-thing just missed her, but it latched onto Joey’s back and sank its teeth into his shoulder. He gave a cry of pain, stumbling, but the thing let go of him, dropping to the ground and sitting, waiting like a patient dog.  
“Joey!”   
“I’m fine, Mai, keep going!” Joey forced himself to his feet, running after the blonde. His shoulder felt like it was on fire, and he could feel blood running freely down his arm, soaking his jacket, but he kept going. Something that burned like acid and definitely wasn’t blood dripped onto his skin, and with a jolt he remembered the liquid, falling from the creature’s jaws and burning the grass. Was that stuff lethal? How quickly did it act? Was he doomed now?  
When they couldn’t run any more, they stopped, walking a few feet before deciding that they simply couldn’t go any further. Mai dropped to her knees, breathing heavily.  
“Joey…are you…alright?” she asked.  
Joey sat cross-legged on the grass, a hand held to his wounded shoulder and his head hung. “I’m fine, Mai. Really.” He gave her a tired grin.  
Mai frowned at him. She shone the light on him, gasping when she saw his red-stained sleeve and the red liquid seeping from between his fingers.  
“It got you…” she paled, her hand flying to her mouth. “Joey…”  
“I’m fine, Mai. Let’s go.” Joey got to his feet, wincing slightly, and began walking. After a moment’s hesitation, Mai followed. The weak light from her phone only illuminated what they’d seen before: miles upon miles of dry grass and a black sky, the air thick and heavy. Joey, originally in front, now lagged behind. Every so often, Mai would shoot a worried glance back at him, but he just waved her on. His entire arm felt numb now, but the wound was still unlike anything he’d ever felt.   
“Joseph Wheeler, you’re not okay and anyone who catches a two second glimpse of you will know that,” Mai said finally, turning on him, her hands on her hips.  
Joey shrugged, then immediately regretted that decision. He winced, but his response was still, “I’m fine!”  
Mai glared at him, probably thinking about saying something insulting about his stubbornness but thought better of it and turned on her heel, beginning the walk again.   
“It’s your own fault if you die,” she called back to him. Joey sent a death glare at her back and followed, struggling to keep up.  
……..  
Tristan didn’t have a light with him. When he bumped into Téa and her phone, he almost laughed out loud in relief. Now the brunette was leading with a purpose, every so often looking worriedly back over her shoulder. Tristan kept pace with her, wondering where she was taking him. He’d asked once before, but her only answer had been, “Somewhere safe. They’re everywhere.”  
Wherever they were headed, though, didn’t seem any different than the rest of this Shadow World. Dry grass, cold fear, sinister unseen eyes watching your every move. It also didn’t change the fact that Tristan was very afraid. For himself, for his friends, for the world once Merzol set his Shadow Dragon loose. And yet they, the teens who were supposed to stop it, were separated, alone, and scared, with no way out of this place.  
“Téa?” he asked, but was promptly shushed.  
“Tristan! I told you to stay quiet, there are things everywhere,” she answered, green eyes wide and fearful.  
Tristan closed his mouth and followed her, failing to notice her eye color and that the real Téa Gardner had crystal blue eyes, not green.  
…….  
Luna clung to Akiza while Téa was slightly ahead with the light. The three stayed close, jumping at every sound or rustle of the grass. The trail left by Kaiba worried the older teens. If he was badly wounded and on his own, could it already be too late?  
They didn’t have to follow the disturbing red trail for too much longer. After a few minutes, they saw another light ahead of them, a thin, concentrated beam.  
“Hello?” Téa called out, somewhat softly. She didn’t want to alert any shadow creatures that they were there, but the lights, while necessary, weren’t too much help in that area.  
The light rose a bit as the owner of it stood. “Who’s that?”  
“Téa, Akiza, and Luna,” Téa answered. Anything else she might’ve said was interrupted by a shout of “Luna!”  
A smaller shape detached itself from the other and ran towards them, wrapping the girl in a bear hug when he reached her.  
“Leo!”  
The twins held on to each other for dear life, shaken badly by the time they’d spent in this place.  
Akiza peered into the light, recognizing the distinct ginger hair. “Crow!”  
Crow jogged over to them. To Akiza’s relief, his eyes were their usual gray.  
“What’s your foster mother’s name?” she asked.  
The tail Signer frowned at her. “Martha, why?”  
Akiza smiled, happy that this was her real friend. “I’ll explain later. But we found a locket of Kaiba’s, and--”  
Crow cut her off. “Kaiba’s not doing so well.” Lowering his voice, he added, “and neither is Yusei. Come on.”  
Only then did Akiza notice how pale his face looked, his stricken expression and how his eyes were wide. Uncertainly, she followed her friend back the way he had come from. Two dark shapes lay on the ground, but at least for now he kept her from shining the light on them.  
“Listen, Akiza. It’s bad. Like, really bad. I don’t know what to do…” he trailed off, running a hand through his hair.  
“I can handle it,” she said. “We have to help them.”  
“Akiza--” Crow was too late. Akiza took the phone from Téa and let the beam fall on the two bodies. The first one she saw was Yusei. His face pale, covered in blood, his arm at an awkward angle and the deep gashes across his back. She blanched, but she kept her composure even though Crow could clearly see the torment in her hazel eyes. Téa turned away, making sure the twins didn’t see.  
Akiza turned the light on Kaiba next. The gashes along his stomach, his hands stained with his own blood, his ankle twisted and his limbs flung out like he’d been tossed. Then she noticed something that made her want to curl into a ball and stay put for the rest of her life. Yusei was taking rattling breaths, shallow and uneven, worrying to say the least. But Seto… Seto Kaiba wasn’t breathing at all.


	12. Caged

Jack stood shakily, a searing pain running through his chest, but then it was gone. He tried to take in his surroundings and get his bearings, but he couldn’t see. That was when the ground gave a jerk beneath him and he toppled backwards. His head cracked against the hard, unforgiving ground, and he let out a curse. Rubbing his head, he sat up, feeling around. The ground felt like wood… as his hand moved around, he felt an edge to the floor. It jerked forward again, sending him sprawling against… what? He felt around, wrapping his hands around something cool and cylindrical. Bars. He was in a cage. Harsh voices, speaking in an unfamiliar language surrounded him, yelling at each other. Or it could be him. He had no idea. He crawled back, unwilling to be sent flying by the sudden movements of this cage.  
As the wagon bumped and jostled, Jack sat uncomfortably against the bars, every so often having his head smacked against them. They trundled along for what seemed like an eternity, but when they stopped, everything went silent. He heard a key turning in a lock. A door opening. An “oof!” as someone was thrown in with him. The door closed, and the wagon began to move again.  
“Who’s that?” he asked gruffly.  
“Um… Bruno. Is that Jack?”  
“Yes. What happened to you?”  
“I woke up, and I couldn’t see anything. I’d been standing about three seconds when these…things, I don’t know what they are, grabbed me and shoved me in here,” the mechanic said.  
“I just woke up here,” Jack said. “Do you have a light in that array of tools of yours?”  
Bruno’s voice was accompanied by a few rustling sounds as he checked his jacket. “Give me a minute… ah! Here!” He clicked on a small flashlight, illuminating the simple surroundings. Thick black bars surrounded them. The thin spaces between them were way too small for them to fit even a whole arm between, let alone a body. The only exit was big enough to fit one person at a time, shut tight and held with a rather complicated-looking lock. Even Yusei and Bruno would have trouble opening it, though that was the idea, Jack supposed. The floor was wood, yet there were no loose screws or convenient cracks that he could see. Everything looked polished and brand new. The ceiling was rather low, so both Jack and Bruno avoided standing up completely. The cage had rather a lot of space, and Jack was certain that it was built to hold quite a few more than two prisoners.  
“There’s no way out of here!” Jack exclaimed in frustration, kicking the bars and immediately regretting that choice.  
“There has to be!” Bruno countered. “No cage is perfect.”  
“This one sure seems to be. The wood’s stronger than anything I’ve ever felt and it’s wood, Bruno. What are the bars made of, then? No one should cage Jack Atlas!” The wing Signer grumbled, throwing his hands up in defeat.   
The mechanic was about to reply when the wagon jerked to a halt, sending the two sprawling into each other. A weak beam of light split the darkness ahead of them. Those harsh voices arose all around them, but Jack could make out words this time.  
“Oh, Master’s going to be very happy with us! Seven more prisoners!” The shadow creature cackled in glee.   
“Those two don’t look like much use. They look dead.”  
“They’ll be healed and put to work. If not, they’ll just be disposed of. Makes no difference. All of you, over here! Surround them…”  
The rest of the conversation faded as the creatures fell silent, stalking their prey. Jack tried to yell, to warn the other victims, but his voice wouldn’t work. Try as he might, he couldn’t make a sound.  
Two surprised shrieks greeted his ears from the direction the creatures had gone, followed by two shrill screams and an angry curse. One sounded like Crow, as there was no mistaking the tail Signer’s language use. The screams… Jack hoped to whatever gods might be listening that it wasn’t the twins, but he felt with a sickening certainty that they had been caught. The two shrieks sounded decidedly feminine, but he couldn’t place them. As for the two that one creature had said looked dead…  
The cage door opened. Bruno’s flashlight illuminated the new captives as they filed in. Akiza, her face pale and stricken, followed by Téa, her crystal blue eyes wide and scared. The twins, clutching each other tightly, entered next, their faces tear-streaked. Crow followed, his face pale but his eyes narrowed and his mouth letting out a long string of obscenities. Before the five could be greeted by Bruno and Jack, though, two limp bodies were unceremoniously flung in after them, one wearing a very distinct white trench coat.  
“What happened?” Bruno asked, the cage door clanging shut.  
“I don’t know what happened to those two. I found them like that. But, long story short, something copying my voice followed me for a while, I found Leo, and then the copycat found Akiza, Téa, and Luna and pretended to be me. Akiza killed it,” Crow answered, almost all in one breath.  
Jack nodded, not quite wanting to believe the situation they were all in, but his thoughts were interrupted by a strangled gasp from the mechanic beside him. Bruno had turned his flashlight on the two bodies. Yusei, face pale and covered in blood, terrible wounds covering his back, but taking rattling uneven breaths. Seto Kaiba, hands stained red, awful gashes across his stomach… and not taking breaths.  
“What the…?” Jack couldn’t even properly finish his sentence.  
All the color had drained from Bruno’s face and he looked akin to a fish as he gaped at the two wounded duelists. Jack punched his shoulder. Snapping out of his trance, the mechanic felt for a pulse on Kaiba. To his relief, it was there, but it was fluttering and weak.  
“He’s alive,” he said, his voice shaky. “Why isn’t he breathing? What attacked him?” As per usual, Bruno’s analytical mind took control of the situation.  
“We found them. We didn’t see the attack,” Crow said.  
“Hm…” Bruno, though every bone in his body protested, examined the wound more closely. He had to fight to keep his lunch down at points, but he got through it. He would not be a good doctor. He prayed that he’d never have to do this again.  
“There!” He exclaimed after a while.  
The edges of the terrible wound were sticky with a dark liquid that was definitely not blood. For starters, it was black. Secondly, it was so sticky that Bruno knew he might have trouble getting his hand off if he stuck his palm on it face down. So, if this substance was blocking the Blue-Eyes duelist’s throat somehow, he wouldn’t be breathing…  
Following this idea, Bruno carefully slid around the prone form to the brunet’s head, prying open his jaws and shining the light down. Sure enough, his throat was blocked with the sticky tar-like substance.   
“You’ll thank me later,” Bruno mumbled, and gave the brunet a sound whack to the chest. Seto seemed to be straining with something, and the mechanic saw the tar bubble, but then deflate. Kaiba was trying to breathe, but couldn’t…  
“Poke it with something,” Crow suggested, leaning over Bruno’s shoulder.  
“I’m not sticking a screwdriver down his throat. I’m not trying to choke him.”  
“Fine. I’ll do it.”   
The tail Signer grabbed a screwdriver from the array of tools in Bruno’s jacket, which was currently on the floor, and poked the substance, making a small hole.  
“Whack him again,” Jack said from behind.  
Bruno complied, giving Seto a second hit to the chest. This time, the hole that Crow had made worked, and the brunet coughed, rolling onto his side. His breath came in ragged gasps and coughs as he fought to breathe, but eventually the coughs subsided, and he lay gasping, before wiping his mouth with his sleeve and trying to drag himself into a sitting position, leaning against the bars. His sapphire eyes remained half-lidded, and it was obvious that he would soon slip back into unconsciousness.  
“Jack, I need your coat,” Bruno said.  
“Why?”  
“I’ll get you a new one, I promise, but I really need this one if you want Yusei and Kaiba to live.”  
“What?!”  
“I said I’ll get you a new one, hand it over!”  
Still grumbling, Jack shrugged off his white coat and handed it to Bruno, turning his back when the mechanic began ripping it into strips.  
“I expect a full replacement!” the blond seethed, but even he was more concerned with the survival of two companions than the survival of his coat.  
“How do you know so much about medical stuff?” Téa asked.  
“Um… I watch a lot of movies,” Bruno said sheepishly. “But it’s common sense that you need to stop the bleeding if you want someone to live. And unfortunately for Jack, his coat was the most convenient bandage.”  
The mechanic wrapped the strips tightly around Kaiba’s stomach, ignoring the weak, “Get off me.”  
“Why didn’t you use Kaiba’s coat?” Jack mumbled, still mourning his loss.  
“I would’ve if I thought I would live to use it,” Bruno retorted, slapping Seto’s hand away from where he was trying to push the mechanic off of him. If the brunet had been completely healthy, there would have been no contest, but while he was like this it was easy for Bruno to keep him away. Seto hated that.  
Bruno tied off the makeshift bandage and moved onto his leg.  
“Will you stop trying to push me away? I’m trying to save your life!” he said finally, exasperated.  
Grumbling under his breath, Seto reluctantly sat back, hissing in pain every now and then. Bruno left his ankle untouched, having no idea whatsoever what to do with it, and moved on to Yusei. He first wrapped his back, then used some of the strips to wipe away the blood on the head Signer’s face. When he had done all he could, he sat back, face creased with worry. Kaiba was unconscious, slumped against the bars. Yusei was limp as a rag doll. All of a sudden, a bright light flashed into life, blinding everyone in the cage. The harsh growls of their captors were more numerous and louder now, and when Jack’s eyes adjusted, his mouth dropped open. Hordes of monsters were pouring forth from the blood-red gates of a massive castle built of black marble, driven by one command. _Find them._  
It didn’t take a genius to figure out who they were looking for.


	13. Enslaved

Joey didn’t last too much longer. After only a few more steps, he gave a short cry and collapsed, falling forward onto his knees. His shoulder burned and throbbed, and he could feel the acid dripping torturously onto his skin.  
“Joey!” Mai knelt beside him, but she didn’t know what to do. She had seen the stuff falling from the spider-thing’s fangs. And she had no idea how to reverse the effects, or even what effects it had on a human.  
“I’m--”  
“Don’t you dare say that you’re fine! You just collapsed, for Ra’s sake!” Mai tugged on her hair worriedly, her fear showing in her violet eyes.  
Joey grinned weakly. “I was going to say ‘okay’ that time.”  
“That’s not funny!”  
“Sorry,” the Red-Eyes duelist muttered. He winced, his hand flying to his wounded shoulder. He felt strange, dizzy… almost like someone was pushing at his mind…  
Joey stood up so fast he almost knocked Mai over. His eyes glinted, their normally warm amber morphing into an evil, solid black.  
“Joey?” Mai asked tentatively, backing away a step.  
“Mai Valentine…” His voice became a hiss, the words drawn out.  
“Joey! Snap out of it!” Mai backed away as Not-Joey advanced.  
“Mai Valentine…”  
Faster than Mai could even see, the normally friendly blond had darted forward, grabbing her wrist in an iron grip, so much stronger than the clumsy duelist usually was.  
“Joey, what— ow! Hey! Let go!”  
Mai’s struggles were all but futile. No matter what she did, the almost painful grip never loosened. Not-Joey dragged her along as if she were a feather, despite everything she tried. They marched along in the darkness. The weak light of Mai’s cell phone caught flashes of creatures, but none went after them. A claw here, a gleaming eye there, a twisted limb. Not-Joey and Mai were left alone. The creature sightings grew more numerous as they traipsed onwards, until their destination came into view.  
“Oh, Ra…” Mai’s hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening at the sight before her. Hordes of monsters worse than nightmare poured forth out of blood-red gates in waves. A massive castle built of cold black marble stood behind the thick walls. These walls gave off a faint crimson light, but it was a bloody, violent red. Nothing like the warm glow of the Crimson Dragon. The shadows, dark as pitch, writhed on the walls, shifting, snarling, hunting. In this world, they had teeth and claws. In this world, the darkness was deadly. In this world, one wrong step ended your life.  
Not-Joey dragged Mai straight through the gates. Slick scales and coarse fur brushed her bare skin, making her shiver. They avoided the two teens, knowing that one was under the influence of the spider-thing.  
When they had made it through the gates, Not-Joey took them straight to the massive doors of the castle. He knocked twice, loudly. They swung open on silent, oiled hinges. Out of the darkness of the interior, the spider-thing sprang for Joey first. It sank its teeth into his wounded shoulder with a hiss. A cry of pain tore from the blond’s lips, and he collapsed.  
“Joey!”  
The iron grip loosened, and the hand fell from Mai’s wrist. Fangs dripping red, the spider-thing leaped at her. She didn’t even have time to scream before a searing pain shot through her body, and she fell to the ground, unconscious.  
…….  
Téa’s acting weird, Tristan thought, still following the frightened brunette. She never shushed or interrupted her friends that way, but he supposed fear could do that to people. She was just trying to protect him. It made sense. After all, if they were too loud, it could attract those shadow creatures. He followed the light of her phone, past what seemed like miles of just emptiness. She was walking faster now, almost jogging, as if she knew exactly where they were and where to go.  
“Téa, what--”  
“Shush, Tristan!” Téa snapped, cutting him off for the millionth time.  
Tristan frowned at her back, but didn’t argue. To be honest, if she knew somewhere safe, he wasn’t going to protest.  
A hiss to his right startled him, and he jumped to the side.  
“What was that?” he yelped.  
“Something we should avoid. Come on!”  
Téa grabbed him by the wrist and ran, towing him behind her. The soft rustling of scales on grass seemed to surround them on all sides, and Tristan shivered, feeling the hairs on the back of his neck rise. They were being watched, yet Téa didn’t seem bothered.  
“Téa…?” he ventured, but was promptly shushed.  
“We’re almost there! Just keep running!”  
The dry grass snagged at their ankles, the rustling all around. But they weren’t attacked. They weren’t stopped.  
_I told you I wanted them alive, didn’t I?_  
Tristan’s eyes widened at the voice of Merzol.  
_Do what you will with him, but bring him to me alive, my serpents. Alive._  
Merzol’s presence disappeared, yet Téa never stopped. She ran, pulling Tristan with her, until they came to a sheer rock wall, the only land mark in this seemingly endless landscape.  
“Téa, we’re trapped now! We--” Tristan froze. _That was the idea,_ he realized. _That’s not Téa. That’s why she was acting weird. That’s why she didn’t do anything when Merzol said not to kill me…_  
Téa let out a haunting, evil laugh, her form twisting and changing into that of a massive snake with the same glinting green eyes.  
“We can’t kill you, but we can have some fun,” it hissed, its tongue flickering in and out as it tasted the air. A chorus of laughs and hisses answered it. Tristan stepped back until he was pressed against the wall. He could barely see. A whip-like tail curled around his waist, tightening uncomfortably, then released him. It was toying with him, and Tristan couldn’t do anything about it.  
The same whip-like tail suddenly came down in a stinging arc across his back. He gave a cry, falling forward but managing to stay on his feet. He hurriedly sprang back, pressing his back against the stone, but it was no use. The creatures pulled him into their midst, whipping him, filling his ears with their hissing laughs, and briefly squeezing him so tightly he couldn’t breathe.  
“Why can’t we do more?” Tristan dimly heard one complain.  
“Maybe the Master will let us after he’s done with him.”  
“Let’s hope so. I’m bored.”  
Tristan squeezed his eyes shut. They won’t kill me, they won’t kill me…  
But his traitorous mind insisted on adding that one little three-letter word: Yet.  
Before he could even make a sound, a scaly, smooth tail wrapped itself around his ankles and hoisted him up in the air, holding him upside down. Laughing and hissing, it began to swing him around, tossing him to another. They played with him like a rag doll, not caring if they hurt him in the process. Merzol had said to bring Tristan to him alive. He didn’t say unharmed. By the time they finally tired of their ‘game,’ he was bleeding somewhat heavily from multiple wounds and barely conscious. He was unceremoniously flung over the back of a serpent as they slithered in a group to some unknown location. He couldn’t keep his eyes open long enough to see where they were going.  
…….  
Yugi ran until he couldn’t run any more. His breathing came in labored gasps, and Yami looked on his hikari concernedly. He seemed about to say something, but Yugi waved him off, beginning to walk again.  
“Do you think we lost it?” he asked quietly.  
“I am not certain…” Yami cast his gaze around, but he couldn’t see much beyond his own weak glow.  
“Just keep moving, then?” Yugi asked.  
“There is not much else we can do, I’m afraid.”  
Yugi nodded, continuing to walk forward. Both he and Yami were on edge, starting at every rustle of the grass. A flash of light caught their eyes, and they both whirled, only to see a strong flashlight beam cutting through the darkness.  
“Who is that?” Yugi called.  
“Depends. Who’s that?”  
“Sounds like Trudge,” Yami muttered.  
“Trudge?” Yugi called, ignoring the “Wait, it may be a foe” from the pharaoh.  
“…yes. Who is that?”  
“It’s Yugi!” Yugi called happily, starting to run toward the light.  
“Yugi, turn left! Now!” Yami suddenly yelled in his hikari’s ear.  
Yugi skidded to a stop and stumbled back in the direction given. Just in time. Yami had just saved his life. A grasping hand with long, skeletal fingers grabbed at the air Yugi would have run into. A frustrated, inhuman hiss emanated from the darkness, and Trudge’s flashlight swung toward the sound. The shadow creature shrank away from the light, but it didn’t seem to be hurt by it, unfortunately. Its hands seemed too big for its body, its fingers long and skeletal. It walked on two feet, but its knees bent the wrong way and it had fur. The lank hair was patchy and hung off the frame like too-big clothes, but when it opened its mouth, they could see rows of sharp white teeth.  
“What in the name of Ra is that?!” Yami asked, horrified.  
Yugi gave a small, strangled gasp, his hand flying to his mouth. He felt Yami pulling at him to take control of their body, but he pushed away the spirit. He was strong enough to get through this. He wanted to prove that he could be.  
“Are you-”  
“I’m sure, Yami.” Yugi cut him off. He swallowed, not taking his eyes off the shadow creature though he desperately wanted to stop looking at it.  
The creature hissed, backing up. It was between Yugi and Trudge, and it seemed to want to stay that way. But so far, it hadn’t tried to hurt them after initially grabbing at the duelist.  
“Yugi…?” Trudge tried stepping around the creature, but it hissed and scrambled to stay between him and Yugi. It showed its teeth, crouching on all fours.  
Skeletal hands clamped down on Yugi’s arms from behind, pinning them to his sides. He let out a yelp of surprise, struggling to get free, but the grip was impossible to break. He and Yami hurriedly switched control, but even the pharaoh couldn’t get free.  
Trudge, hearing Yugi’s shout, looked up, momentarily taking his eyes off of the shadow creature. When it jumped at him, he quickly drew his gun, putting a bullet through its chest. It wasn’t even fazed, and continued its charge, clamping its long-fingered hands down on his arms. It wasn’t huge, but it swung the big officer over its shoulder seemingly with no effort.  
Yami was in a similar position. There had been two creatures the whole time. One had distracted them. The other had attacked. The pharaoh struggled, but made sure that Yugi was in the Puzzle. He didn’t want anything to happen to his hikari, so if he had to feel pain for him, then so be it.  
The creature grew tired of his protests, giving him a sound whack to the back of the head. Dazed, Yami shook his head to clear it, but took the warning and stayed silent. He’d have to wait to figure out where they were going.  
Without warning, the creatures stopped, pulling their prisoners off their shoulders. Yami braced himself for impact with the ground, but it came a lot later than he was expecting, knocking the wind out of him. The shadow creature landed on its feet next to him, not giving him any time to catch his breath before swinging him back over its shoulder. They continued in a dank passage underground. The distance they went or for how long, Yami couldn’t say. But when they left the tunnel, he wondered if they were even in the Shadow World any more. They had to be, but then where were they? The corridor was made of smooth black marble, dark wood doors set in the walls.  
_How nice of you to join us, Pharaoh. Oh, and Officer Trudge as well. Either of you injured?_  
Neither answered.  
_No?_ Merzol laughed. _Perfect. Right to work, then. Take them to the Darks, my pets._  
The shadow creatures took Yami and Trudge down the hallway and down several flights of stairs.  
“Oh, Ra…” Yami gasped.  
Rows of cells lined the walls. People filled them, and Yami’s eyes simmered with rage when he saw a young boy with wild red hair curled in one, his face tear-stained and his gray-green eyes devoid of any hope. The pharaoh was roughly thrown into the cell with him, almost falling.  
“I’m sorry they caught you,” the boy mumbled, his eyes downcast.  
“You do not have to be. It was not your fault,” Yami responded, peering out through the bars.  
The shadow creature with Trudge shoved the officer into the cell opposite the boy and pharaoh, shutting the door with a clang behind him.  
“It’s Trudge!” the boy yelped, scurrying behind Yami.  
Trudge looked up at his name, immediately spotting them.  
“Rally?” he asked, trying to get a better view of the boy cowering behind the pharaoh.  
“Rally?” Yami echoed. A conversation with Yusei came back to him, when they had been looking for a place to practice the new summoning. The raven-haired Signer had been anxious.  
_“What’s wrong, Yusei?” Yugi had asked._  
The Signer sighed, blowing his bangs out his eyes. Wordlessly, he handed the smaller duelist a yellow hat, marked by an orange smiley face in the corner.  
“It’s owned by one of my friends,” he said. “Rally. And because he’d never just leave his hat lying around like that, he had to have been taken by something. The rest of my friends wouldn’t leave him alone in times like this, either. He’s the youngest, around the same age as the twins.”  
Yugi nodded, looking down at the hat in his hands. “So you know that Merzol took them, not that they escaped?”  
“Where could they escape to?” Yusei asked helplessly, gesturing to the eerily empty Satellite around them.  
Yugi had nodded. “We’ll find them,” he said, giving the hat back to Yusei, but the Signer didn’t take it.  
“You keep it,” he said. “If you find him, it’ll prove to him you’re a friend, I guess. You could keep it, but I’m not sure if it’ll fit over that hairstyle of yours.” He said this with a mischievous sideways glance at the short duelist.  
“Hey!” Yugi yelped, laughing but tucking the hat into his belt.  
They continued bantering playfully with the others on the way to the lot, the grim conversation from before all but forgotten.  
Yami still had the hat. He pulled it out now, turning to the boy.  
“That’s mine!” Rally yelped in surprise. “Where’d you get that?”  
“Jack Atlas found it,” Yami responded. “Yusei Fudo gave it to me, to show you that I was a friend if I found you or your friends.”  
“You know Jack and Yusei?” Rally asked, his eyes shining with a newfound hope, but then his brows furrowed in confusion as he looked up at Yami’s face.  
“I know you…” he muttered, but his young mind was so filled with Merzol and their current situation that he couldn’t place him.  
“My name’s Yugi Moto,” Yami said. He felt Yugi pulling at him from inside the Puzzle, wanting to talk to this boy, and they switched control.  
Rally’s mouth had dropped open. “You’re who now? Aren’t you dead?”  
“The Crimson Dragon brought me and a few of my friends from the past to help Yusei and the Signers fight the bad guy,” Yugi said.  
“Okay,” Rally said, grinning like a loon now. “Cool.”  
A stream of angry curses heralded the arrival of Crow Hogan. Lumbering, thick-limbed creatures with piggish faces had his arms twisted behind his back, pulling him roughly down the hallway. Bruno, Jack, Akiza, Téa, Leo, and Luna followed with less of a struggle.  
Yugi watched the procession of new prisoners with wide eyes. Rally joined him at the bars, hands wrapped around the iron.  
“Jack!” he called. “Crow!”  
The Signers looked around briefly for the source of their names, eyes widening when they saw Rally.  
“We’ll get out,” Jack mouthed. “Don’t worry.”  
Rally nodded, biting his lip. Luna looked up from the ground to see who they were talking to, as did Leo. They both met the eyes of Rally, Leo giving him a thumbs up with his free arm while the creature dragged him by the other and mouthing, “No one can hold us for long!” while Luna just blushed and looked away. Meeting up with the others seemed to have bolstered some of her brother’s confidence.  
Rally’s eyes held some of the hope that a boy his age should have, and Yugi and Yami both hoped to Ra that he would have a reason to keep it.  
_Prisoners, welcome. We’re just waiting on a few guests now, but they should be with us shortly. Minor injuries._ Merzol laughed. _Make yourselves comfortable. Oh- never mind. Turns out, I need your help. Struggle, and life will be unpleasant for you. Do what I say, and it’ll be fine. Now, follow my shadow creatures. They will use force if they have to._  
The cell doors swung open, while more creatures appeared from the stairwell, herding the prisoners down a few hallways. Flickering yellow lightbulbs cast an eerie light on the walls as they walked. When they finally stopped, a huge cavern and twisting passageways were spread out before them. They were each given a pickaxe, and told to dig.  
“Dig for what?” was the question that was asked many times, but never answered. So they took the tools given to them and did what they were told. None of the Signers or past teens wanted to help Merzol in any way, but the overseers each help a wicked-looking whip, and nobody wanted to be on the receiving end of that.  
“I found something!” someone yelled from the other end. Excited, the prisoner ran to the overseer, showing it a black crystal that glowed with an evil light.  
The shadow creature grunted in approval, taking the crystal.  
_That was exceptionally fast. I am impressed._ Merzol’s smooth voice filled the cavern. _Anyone who finds one of these shall be rewarded. Follow my creature, finder._  
The prisoner trailed the beast eagerly, disappearing back into the hallways of cells. He didn’t come back. For hours, the other captives worked, blisters slicking their hands with blood and backs aching. Dust from the mine filled their lungs, and soon enough they were all gripped by coughing fits. The creatures took them back to the cells for a rest that seemed way too short. Yami insisted on taking control, but after three cycles of mining and resting even he was exhausted. More and more prisoners found the black crystals each day, yet what happened to them was unknown. At least, it was unknown until Yami stumbled upon a creature leading one that had been taken a while ago. Her eyes were blank and she followed the beast emotionlessly. What was done to them hit Yami in a rush.  
_Yugi,_ he said urgently through their mind link. _Yugi!_  
_What?_  
_Remember when Pegasus trapped the souls of the Kaiba brothers?_  
_Yes… why?_  
_They looked just like that. No emotion, following anyone without question._  
_Merzol’s stealing their souls!_ Yugi realized in horror. _To power his Shadow Dragon like Yusei said the Dark Signers powered those Earthbound Immortals?_  
_No. Remember when he sent us to this Shadow World?_  
_How could I forget?_  
_He seemed stronger,_ Yami said. _He was able to easily overpower our monsters, unlike before. And that was after people started disappearing._  
The full magnitude of his yami’s words hit Yugi. _The souls make Merzol stronger!_  
_What we need to know is how much stronger he is. He overpowered us easily last time, and he’s still getting more powerful,_ Yami said gravely.  
_If we don’t stop him soon, he’s going to be unstoppable, and he has that Shadow Dragon,_ Yugi responded, and Yami could hear his hikari’s fear.  
_We have to find a way,_ the pharaoh said. _But I fear that he is already beyond our current ability to stop._


	14. Betrayer

Yusei blearily opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the sudden light. A burst of white-hot pain shot through his back, and he gave a gasp before he could control himself. The first thing he noticed was that his arm was in a cast. Had the shadow creature broken it after he’d passed out? If it had, then why hadn’t it killed him? It had every opportunity to…  
A face partially obscured by a surgical mask entered his field of vision, brow furrowed in concentration.  
“Mr. Fudo. How are you feeling?”  
Yusei frowned at the doctor, but answered the question anyway, even if he didn’t tell the whole truth.  
“I’m fine.”  
The doctor made some notes on a clipboard, scanning Yusei with a critical eye. The duelist was doing the same to the room around him. He was in some sort of medical ward, he realized. With a quick glance, he saw that about half of the beds were filled. Four doctors were running around trying to tend to all of them at once. When he didn’t see any of the Signers, he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.  
“Mr. Fudo?”  
The doctor snapped Yusei back to his senses.  
“What?”  
“I asked if you needed anything, sir.”  
Yusei was about to reply, but then frowned. _Sir? I’m from the Satellite. Why would he call me sir?_  
“No, thank you,” he answered, looking at the doctor. His eyes often left the patient, darting around the room as if he was afraid of something. He clutched his clipboard tightly, and he seemed small and nervous.  
“Let us know if you require assistance,” the doctor said, then bustled off to someone else.  
Yusei sat up slowly, wincing at the pain in his back. His arm throbbed, and his leg stung. He’d definitely been in better shape. He also had one heck of a headache. Probably from whatever that creature had hit him with. His shirt and jacket were slung over a chair next to him, his abdomen wrapped tightly. But lying in the bed beside him was Seto Kaiba. He was still out, and the amount of blood staining the bandages around his torso made Yusei wince. He was lucky to be alive. They both were.  
 _Good. You’re awake._  
Yusei looked around wildly for Merzol, but he only got a few stares from other patients. They obviously hadn’t heard the voice.  
 _You’re the only one who can hear me. Listen, or your precious friends currently in the Darks will die._  
 _The Darks?_ Yusei wondered. Whatever they were, he didn’t like the sound of them, and his friends…  
 _You’ll discover what the Darks are or yourself soon enough. Now, my Shadow Dragon is almost prepared. The only thing I need from you is to get me the pharaoh._  
 _No!_ Yusei thought with all the force he could muster. _Wait… pharaoh?_ He had no idea whether Merzol heard him or not, but the voice responded with a chuckle.  
 _You may know him as Yami. Remember, I could end the lives of anyone at any time I wished. Or maybe I should just torture them until they screamed for death. Could you imagine poor little Luna begging me to end her suffering? Or Akiza?_  
Yusei curled his hands into fists, almost shaking with anger. _How could you do that? What kind of sick person would do that to a child?_  
 _One who wants revenge. Tell that pharaoh that you’ve found something, and you want him to help you examine it. Lead him up the stairs and down the hallway, all the way to the end. I’ll be there. Oh, and there’s a key to his cell door in your jacket. Only his door, though. Don’t go getting any ideas. Remember, it’s either the pharaoh or Akiza. You’ll lose one of them forever. You have until midnight tomorrow._  
Could he really betray Yugi and Yami? He knew that he would never do that. His heart twisted just thinking about it. They were his friends. They trusted him, and he trusted them. He couldn’t betray that trust. But Akiza…. Merzol would do things to her worse than death. Yusei couldn’t imagine his life now without the psychic duelist. He had to save her. But between saving her and betraying Yugi… Merzol wasn’t the forgiving type. He had to choose. One of his friends would be lost to the darkness, and he had the power to choose who.  
 _Oh, and Yusei? Don't come alone if you'd like to keep Akiza sane._  
……..  
Yugi was jolted out of a fitful sleep by the clank of his cell door opening. Blearily, he raised his head, trying to see who the silhouette standing in front of him was.  
“Yugi?”  
“Yusei?”  
“Yes! Look, I found something. Can you help me with it?”  
“Why me?”   
“I found your cell key. The guards all have them on their belts, but yours must have dropped it last time he used it. Will you come with me?”  
_Something’s off…_  
_What? Yami, it’s Yusei. He wouldn’t do anything to hurt us._  
_Sometimes, aibou, you can be too trusting. I agree that he’s a good person. But something seems… off about him tonight. Let me take control, just in case._  
“I will come,” Yami said, following Yusei out of the cell. The raven-haired Signer closed and locked the door behind him, hoping to keep the guards off their trail for as long as possible. He led them up the stairs and down the hallway, treading softly to keep their footsteps from echoing on the black marble. At the very end was an intimidating door, painted black to blend in. At first glance it would’ve simply looked like a part of the wall.  
“I was wondering who would take the pains to paint a door to look like the walls if there wasn’t something important behind it. It’s also locked. I tried it,” Yusei explained.  
Yami stepped closer, frowning. He touched the door briefly with one hand- it felt like wood, but it was made smooth and cool by the paint.  
“You’re right,” the pharaoh finally said. “Someone went to great lengths trying to hide this. Do you have anything in your jacket that we might use to pick the lock?”  
“I think I might actually have a lock pick…” Yusei rummaged around in his pockets, eventually coming up with a long, slender rod of metal. It seemed almost as thin as a paperclip, but it was much stronger, as Yusei inserted it into the lock and it didn’t bend to the point where it was unusable. Finally, there was a click, and the door swung inwards on silent hinges. Yusei went first, peering in and then taking a step forward. Yami followed warily, standing by his earlier observation that something was off about Yusei.  
The door slammed shut as soon as the pharaoh had entered. Both duelists whirled around in fright, and then torches lit the room in a burst of light. Standing at the other side of the room was the hooded figure that they had come to know as Merzol. There was nothing else in between them. Yami and Yusei both backed up.  
 _Welcome, pharaoh. I see Yusei followed through with his duties._  
Yami whipped his head around to look at the head Signer. His cobalt blue eyes were wide and pained, tormented by Merzol. But that incredulous, hurt amethyst gaze would haunt Yusei forever, along with the knowledge that he had just betrayed someone who trusted him.  
“What is he talking about?” Yami asked quietly.  
Yusei just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.  
 _What I’m talking about is that I made him choose. Bring you here tonight, or I would torture Akiza. He chose to send you to the shadows._  
Yusei covered his eyes with a gloved hand, crumpling to his knees, and Yami saw the torment that Merzol had put him through. He had forced the Signer to choose between his friends. Friends were what he treasured most, and harming them was tearing him in two.  
A wrenching pain made Yami gasp. It was like he was _actually_ being torn in half. In a way, he was. Merzol was forcefully separating him from Yugi’s body, but he was leaving something behind. His Shadow Magic. Yami and Yugi fought to stay together, but Merzol was too strong, just as the pharaoh had feared.  
The tricolored haired duelists fell to their knees once the separation was complete. Just because Yami was transparent didn’t mean he couldn’t feel pain, but there was also something missing inside of him. His Shadow Magic was left in Yugi. And the smaller teen couldn’t control it. His amethyst eyes were wide and pained, his head in his hands. His whole body shook, though whether it was from effort or pain Yami couldn’t tell. Merzol raised his hands once more, and the teenager gave a cry of pain. Darkness swirled around him, hiding him from view until he couldn’t be seen. Yami watched with horrified eyes as his aibou was attacked, and he couldn’t do anything to save him.  
After what seemed like an eternity, the darkness rushed back to Merzol, who gave a spine-chilling laugh.  
 _Yes…_  
“What have you done?” Yami screamed in horror, but it wasn’t directed at Merzol. It was at the broken teen behind him.  
 _I’ll tell you what he did. He just betrayed you and gave me your Shadow Magic. You cannot stop me now._  
Merzol twisted his hands. Yusei collapsed forward with a cry of pain, trying feebly to push himself back up. As he used the darkness, magic that should be with Yami, the pharaoh felt himself weakening. It was strange. Magic used energy. But because Merzol was using his… he felt it, not Merzol. The revenge-bent man laughed again, using more. Yami pitched forward, his vision darkening. He just barely registered Yugi’s body falling to the floor with an audible thump beside him before it went black completely.  
…….  
Akiza was scared. Terrified, in fact. She was worried for the fates of everyone working in the Darks, especially after Yami and Yugi had discovered what Merzol was doing to the prisoners. She was scared for the twins and Rally, so young and frail yet forced to work alongside everyone else. And she was worried about Kaiba and Yusei. The last time she had seen either was in a prison wagon, where both were barely alive. They had been separated as soon as the group arrived at the castle, and she hadn’t heard anything on them since. At least, until Yusei was dragged into the Darks by two guards, Yugi behind him. They were thrown roughly into the cell that the past duelist had shared with Rally, but neither spoke a word. Yugi lay unmoving from where the guards had thrown him, while Yusei sat with his back against the wall, his head in his hands. He managed a ‘hello’ to Rally, but when they were put to work he couldn’t look Akiza in the eye. He avoided everyone’s gaze and dug on his own. Not even the twins could get a conversation out of him. Something was very wrong. And Akiza guessed that it had something to do with the peculiar fate of Yugi. He might as well have been dead. He hadn’t moved since he’d arrived and Yami seemed to have disappeared altogether. During a quick break, she decided to try and probe for the truth.  
“Yusei?”  
Yusei looked up to see who it was, immediately dropping his gaze when he spotted Akiza.  
“Hey…”  
“What happened? Please, just tell me something. I want to know what it is that makes you this way…” Akiza sat gingerly on a rock beside him, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze.  
“No, you really don’t.”  
“Yusei. You’ve been ignoring your friends for the past two days. Yugi might as well be dead and we don’t know what happened to you! Please, Yusei, we just want to help!”  
For the first time since they’d left the Enforcers’ old hideout, Yusei looked Akiza in the eye. The psychic duelist was taken aback by the sadness and torment visible in those cobalt depths, and she knew that she could barely imagine what he must be feeling.  
“I betrayed Yugi, Akiza. Merzol took Yami’s Shadow Magic, and now they’re both gone. Maybe forever. And I did that to them.” Yusei dropped his gaze, staring at his hands folded in his lap.  
“I’m sure that wasn’t the whole story. You’d never do that by choice,” Akiza said. “I know you, Yusei.”  
Yusei swallowed. “Merzol forced me to choose. He said I could either lead Yami to him, or he’d torture you beyond nightmare. He didn’t tell me what he’d do to him…”  
Akiza simply leaned her head on his shoulder, trying to give as much support to him as she could. The magnitude of that decision… she knew that Yusei treasured his friends more than anything. Forcing him to choose between them?  
“When we face Merzol, I can promise you that I will make him pay for what he did to you,” she vowed darkly.  
“Wanting revenge makes us no better than him,” Yusei said softly. He sighed, his eyes downcast.  
“Then focus on this. We’re going to get Yugi and Yami back, and we’re going to stop Merzol. I don’t know how, but we will,” Akiza responded.  
“He took all of Yami’s Shadow Magic. It doubled his power at least, and I doubt Yugi’s friends will forgive me. Without them, we can’t beat him. Merzol’s tearing us apart, Akiza. We can’t even do anything about it. He knows how to get to us. He seems to know more about us than we do. If he knows all our weaknesses, and he doesn’t even have one, how can we beat him?”  
Akiza blinked. She’d never heard Yusei talk like this before. He’d been changed by being forced to betray his friends. He seemed years older than he was, even more so than before. Yet at the same time, he seemed at his most vulnerable.  
A startled but pleased yell greeted them, and they looked up in curiosity. But the sight made Akiza’s face go white, and Yusei’s eyes widened. Rally had found a crystal. He didn’t know what happened to the prisoners that found them. And now the guard had a firm hand on his arm and was dragging him up the stairs and out of the Darks.


	15. Nightmares Come True

Seto woke with a start. He bolted upright, wincing at the pain across his stomach and leg but managing not to cry out. He calmed his breathing, looking around at his surroundings.  
_It was just a dream,_ he scolded himself. _Get a grip, Seto. Gozaburo’s gone. Mokuba’s probably playing video games. He’s fine._   
“Mr. Kaiba?”  
“What?” he snapped irritably, turning to see the person unfortunate enough to talk to him. It was a young doctor. He probably wasn’t even supposed to be out of college yet, but he was stuck in this Shadow World thanks to Merzol, trying desperately to save lives.  
“I…” the doctor swallowed and tried again. He was clearly terrified, of Seto’s temper or the Shadow World it was hard to tell. “I need to check on you, sir.”  
“Make it quick,” Seto grumbled, lying back down while he tried to get his bearings. He briefly wondered what had happened to Yusei. He had found the head Signer, right? His most recent memories seemed in a sort of haze. He’d barely been conscious, but he was fairly certain that Yusei hadn’t been a part of that nightmare he’d just woken up from. The shadow creature had injured both of them, he knew that much. So why hadn’t it finished the job? Maybe Merzol wanted them alive. He had said the Shadow World would be eternal suffering and nightmare. You couldn’t suffer eternally if you were dead.  
` _Pleasant place,_ Seto thought grumpily. The doctor, while scared out of his mind, made certain his hands were steady and that he did the job right, dressing Seto’s wounds and carefully setting his twisted ankle in a splint. When he was done, he hastily bowed and bustled off to another patient.  
_Where am I?_ Seto wondered, taking in his surroundings. The last thing he remembered was stumbling around in the Shadow World. Very vaguely, he remembered a blue-haired teen trying to wrap his wounds. But how did he get here, wherever here was?   
There was no way to keep time in this strange medical ward. All Seto knew was that he hurt a little less when he woke up again. He hadn’t wanted to fall asleep. But even he knew that he needed rest, especially in this state. The doctors all seemed terrified, their eyes nervously darting around, yet they managed to save many people. However, more than a few had succumbed to their wounds in the time that Seto had been here. He hadn’t heard anything from Merzol, or anyone else for that matter.  
It seemed like he spent eternity in that place. But he was gradually growing stronger, and he was more healed than he let anyone think. If they thought he was weak, they wouldn’t expect him to leave in the middle of the night and see what he could find in this place. Which was exactly what he did.  
When all was quiet, Seto got out of bed, wincing slightly when he put weight on his ankle. He didn’t let it stop him, though, and pushed onward, carefully avoiding equipment and anything that might make a noise. With relatively little hassle, he made it out of the ward, and was met with a long, dark hallway. His footsteps echoed, making him wince, but no one came running. The walls were smooth and unmarred. There was nowhere for him to hide and nowhere for him to go, at least until he came to the end. A single door was set in the wall, but the hallway turned abruptly. Seto had a choice. Open the door, or turn and continue down the passage. He chose the door, reasoning that he could try it and then explore the hallway.  
The room was dark when he opened the heavy door. The hall he had come from cast little light, and he squinted to try and see. All of a sudden, torches flickered to life, but the sight made Seto go pale. A young boy with wild raven hair that he knew all too well lay lifelessly on the floor.  
“Mokuba…”  
…….  
Joey’s mind felt fuzzy when he woke up. He sat up, almost smacking his head on iron bars. He frowned, looking around.  
“Joey? That you?”  
Joey whirled around, seeing a familiar ginger behind him.  
“Crow! What’s going on? Where’s Mai?”  
Crow shrugged. “I don’t know and I don’t know. Most of us are in this place, though. It’s like we’re slaves!” He went on a rant that involved quite a few obscenities before getting back to the point. “I haven’t seen Mai, Tristan, or Kaiba since we were caught. Man, I thought Kaiba was dead when I first found him.” The tail Signer quickly filled Joey in on his story.   
“What about Yugi?”  
“Yugi and Yusei came in together a while back. Yugi hasn’t moved since and I have no idea where that glowing spirit thing of his went. Yusei seems traumatized or something. He won’t talk to anyone except Akiza. Not even the twins,” Crow replied. “Merzol is one messed up dude.”  
“No kidding,” Joey grumbled. He stood, experimentally rolling his shoulders. It was all coming back to him now… the spider-thing, running in terror with Mai. Feeling its teeth sink into his shoulder. Collapsing… then nothing. He shivered. He didn’t know what had happened, but he had a very bad feeling about it.  
Crow was looking at him with concern in his gray eyes. “You okay?”  
Joey nodded. “Fine.” His shoulder _did_ seem fine now. Strange.  
Soon enough, Joey knew the backbreaking work of digging for the black crystals. He noticed the disappearances of the finders. Crow had told him what happened to them. With every lost soul, his hatred for Merzol grew, seething inside of him. But how could they stop him? Their group was all over the place. They were broken. They were terrified. They had no monsters. They had no power.  
The days blurred together, an endless cycle of too much work and not enough rest. One day, though, that cycle was thrown off. They were kept in the cells. The pickaxes remained unused in the corner. The creatures remained silent guards. A low rumble came from deep in the earth below them, growing steadily to a roar. It shook the ground. Dust rained down from the ceiling, and rocks tumbled down the sides of the mine.  
“What is that?” Joey yelped. The back wall of his cell crumbled away, revealing a massive red eye. It flicked over him before moving, a seemingly endless stream of slick scales, blacker than the night, forming the rest of its neck and body. It let out an earth-shaking roar, more dust and rocks falling from above. A few cells down, a child screamed.  
“That’s it!” came the sob. “That’s the dragon!”  
“Luna…” Crow was wide-eyed, at the bars. “Are you sure?”  
Even before the terrified girl answered, Joey knew. They all did. The Shadow Dragon had risen.


	16. Isolation

Jack watched in horror as the massive dragon made its way through the castle, knocking down quite a few walls in the process. A few cells down, he saw Akiza jump back, narrowly avoiding a chunk of ceiling. The very ground was shaking with the beast’s movements. Luna was in hysterics, her terrifying vision becoming a reality.   
The bars in front of him rattled. He looked at them curiously, reaching out and giving one an experimental pull. It came out easily, having been loosened by the dragon’s not-so-quiet entry. His cellmate, Bruno, looked up in surprise.  
“We can’t fit through that,” he said critically.  
“I know that!” Jack snapped, giving the other bars a pull. None were as sturdy as they had been, but some required more effort than others. Bruno helped, and soon enough they had a big enough gap to escape through. The two slipped through, unnoticed by the guards for the moment. Everyone’s eyes were on the Shadow Dragon. Crow spotted them and pointed them out to Joey. The two duelists tried their own bars, managing to pull aside two and slipping out.  
An angry roar sounded right by Jack’s ear. He jumped away in surprise, just barely avoiding a club to the head.  
“I think they saw us,” Bruno observed.  
“No kidding, genius,” Jack muttered, grabbing the mechanic’s arm and bolting. He looked back at the others, still in their cells, and faltered. He couldn’t just leave…  
“Run, Jack!” Akiza yelled. “We’ll find our own way out! Move!”  
Jack hesitated.  
“Go!” Téa joined in, as did Leo and Luna.   
“Move!” Yusei’s voice added to the mix made up the blond’s mind. With a mouthed, _We’ll come back,_ he and Bruno turned tail and ran, quickly joined by Crow and Joey. They had no idea where they were going. With the Shadow Dragon on the loose, was anywhere safe?  
…….  
Yami coughed, rolling over and pushing himself up to his hands and knees. A strange sort of emptiness was inside of him. The absence of his Shadow Magic had more of an impact than he thought. But what had happened to Yusei? He knew that the raven-haired Signer would never willingly hurt him, and that Merzol was to blame, but he couldn’t help but place some fault on the teen. But what if Yami had been forced to choose, maybe between Yugi and Joey? It didn’t even bear thinking about. And what about his aibou? The last thing that Yami remembered was Yugi falling limply to the stone floor beside him. He briefly touched the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. The cool surface, only slightly ridged where Yugi had fit the puzzle pieces together, was comforting to the pharaoh, and he let out a breath. He could feel Yugi’s presence. He was alive, at least, but he seemed unreachable.   
Yami let out a sudden cry, feeling energy ripped from his body all at once. Merzol had just used a massive amount of his power. The pharaoh had a sinking feeling that he knew what it was for. And if he was right, he hoped to Ra that the Shadow Dragon had some kind of weakness, otherwise they were all doomed. When the pain subsided somewhat, he shakily pushed himself to his feet.  
Where am I? he wondered, trying to take in his surroundings. It was so dark…  
What he could tell was that the floor beneath him was hard and cold to the touch. Anything else was wreathed in shadow. His straining amethyst eyes found nothing more. He knew he wasn’t outside again. That same chilled feeling made him shiver, but the eerie mist-wreathed plains felt different than this. This place felt like a void. Like he was the only one left in the world.  
Yami took a step forward. The sound was swallowed by the darkness, pressing in on him. What was this place? After only a few seconds, something stopped him short. It was a wall, made of the same material as the floor. With a sinking heart, Yami felt his way around, but was stopped in every direction by a wall. He was completely trapped, with no way out that he could see. He had to get back to the others. He knew that. Right now, he didn’t care about Yusei’s shocking betrayal. He needed to get back to his friends. He needed to help them fight this.  
…….  
Mai was woken abruptly by someone tentatively poking her arm. When she groggily turned her head in curiosity, the culprit gave a squeak of surprise. It was a little girl. She was wearing a light pink long-sleeved dress that went almost to her ankles. Her auburn hair was tied back in a ponytail, but she looked about six years old.  
“Hello. I’m Kokoro,” the girl said shyly. She was crouched by Mai’s side, and now dark green eyes looked at her curiously.  
“Mai,” Mai responded, holding out her hand. Kokoro gave it a little shake, her tiny hands trembling.   
“Where am I?” Mai asked gently, pushing herself into a kneeling position.  
“I don’t know. I was playing with my friends at the orphanage and we were waiting for Crow to visit because he said he would but then we woke up here,” Kokoro said, her eyes downcast.  
“Crow?”  
The girl nodded vigorously. “He took care of us in the Satellite and he used to get cards for us! But then he found Martha. She runs the orphanage, so she takes care of us now, because Crow’s a duelist! And he’s even dueling in the WRGP with Yusei and Jack!”  
There was no doubt now that Kokoro was talking about the very same ginger that Mai had met just a few days ago.  
“I met Crow a few days ago,” Mai said, standing. Kokoro’s face lit up, and hope glimmered in her eyes, so innocent and childlike.   
“I have to tell Ginga and the others!” she squealed, tugging Mai’s hand. “Come on!”  
Kokoro led Mai through a dark, twisting hallway, lit rather eerily by flickering torches. The blonde remembered the gates, the spider-creature… and Joey.  
“You haven’t seen a blond teenager, have you?” she asked hopefully.   
“I saw you.”  
Mai chuckled. “I’m twenty-four. I meant a boy. I was with him earlier, but I don’t know where he went.” She wisely left out the spider-creature. For some reason, she now realized, the wound left by the shadow beast didn’t hurt. She pushed down one glove, seeing the marks where its teeth had sunk into her forearm, but they simply looked like old scars. So what significance did the bite have at all other than driving her into unconsciousness?  
“Kokoro!”  
“Kokoro! Where are you?!”  
Soon enough, they heard voices up ahead. The sounds were tinged with worry and fear, but Kokoro seemed oblivious, a skip in her step.  
“Kokoro!” The first to reach them was a girl with black hair tied into a tight bun, probably around the same age as Rally and the twins. She wrapped the smaller girl in a tight hug, not even acknowledging Mai until she was sure that Kokoro was okay.  
“Hikari!” Kokoro returned the hug, but extricated herself from the other girl’s arms as soon as she could, pointing to Mai excitedly. “She knows Crow!”  
“Most people know who Crow is. He’s on the same team as Yusei and Jack and they’re both famous,” a boy said. He wore a purple bandana over light brown hair, his dark eyes searching but fearful. Not one of the kids could be older than twelve.  
“That’s Taiga,” Kokoro said, gesturing to the boy and ignoring his comment. Two other boys stepped forward. One had spiked indigo hair, and wore an orange hoodie who was introduced as Ginga. The other was Daichi. Mai thought he might be around eight, with dark blue eyes and black hair. He was wearing a blue hoodie somewhat similar to Ginga’s with a white shirt underneath.  
Daichi raised a shy hand, and Mai gestured for him to go on.   
“Um… where do we go? Where’s Crow?” he asked, and was accompanied by murmurs of agreement from the others.  
“I’m sorry, but I don’t even know where I am,” Mai answered truthfully.  
Hikari suddenly screamed, stumbling back in terror. Mai turned, falling back as she too saw what had frightened the girl. A massive red eye, the pupil alone bigger than the blonde. Chunks of stone and masonry fell from the ceiling as the Shadow Dragon forced its way into the narrow hallway, its eyes fixed on the group of cowering children and Mai.  
_Hm. Now how did you get up here?_  
Merzol’s chilling voice echoed through their minds, and the figure himself appeared standing atop the dragon’s head.  
_No matter. Come here._  
No one moved.  
_Did you not hear me?_  
The Shadow Dragon reached out one massive claw, pulling the group closer until they could nearly see under Merzol’s hood. Nearly. In fact, they were so close…  
“Why do you want revenge?” Mai asked softly.  
_I told you. The Signers took everything from me. I couldn’t just stand by and let them go free, now could I?_  
“I know that the Signers hurt you, even though it wasn’t deliberate. But what about everyone else? What about the children?” Mai gestured to the kids around her. “Don’t they deserve a life? Like your brother and sister?”  
_Don’t you dare mention them! They’re gone. And it was all because of the Signers._ Merzol was almost hissing in rage, and he pushed out a hand. The Shadow Dragon roared, stepping forward. In a last, desperate attempt at survival, Mai lunged forward. And tore back Merzol’s hood.


	17. The Beginning of the End

Seto threw all caution to the winds. He’d almost lost the only family he had left too many times… Pegasus, stealing their souls… the Rare Hunters… and Noah, kidnapping and brainwashing Mokuba to get to Seto. He wouldn’t lose the energetic eleven-year-old again. He couldn’t, not here. Not now.  
Seto knelt beside the motionless figure, and with shaking fingers turned it over. Mokuba’s gray eyes were closed, his face cold and still. Seto felt his breath grow rapid and anxious as he felt for a pulse, his heart racing as he searched. Nothing. No breath came from his little brother’s lips, no faint throbbing could be felt in his wrist.  
“Mokuba! Mokuba, for God’s sake wake up!” Seto shook his shoulders roughly, terrified that he’d lost the only person he cared about more than anything. “MOKUBA!”  
_The great Seto Kaiba, brought to his knees by a such a simple matter._  
_You call the death of a child a simple matter?_ Seto thought viciously, hastily wiping his eyes on his sleeve and standing, his hands balled into tight fists at his sides.  
_Death? No, your brother’s not dead, Seto. This is merely my fear room. It brings to life your greatest fears. It seems like yours is losing little Mokuba. Good to know…_  
Seto looked back at ‘Mokuba.’ As he watched, the perfect imitation of his brother, right down to the way his shirt wrinkled, melted away into a wisp of shadow, leaving no trace to the fear that had been realized.   
_If you so much as look at my brother, I’ll make you wish you were never born,_ Seto said savagely.  
_Oh, Seto. I already do. Enjoy your explorations._ With that, Merzol disappeared, replaced almost immediately by an earth-shaking roar. Seto ran out of the room, just in time. Wicked looking spines cut through the marble floor like it was butter, the back of a massive beast replacing where Seto had just been standing. The Shadow Dragon truly did seem unstoppable. It continued its path of destruction, rising fully from the depths, when the shaking castle quieted all of a sudden. Merzol’s scream of rage and pure hatred echoed through the halls, making Seto shiver. Whatever had made the controller of the Shadow Dragon that angry, Seto couldn’t help feeling just slightly glad that he wasn’t on the receiving end of that anger.  
…….  
Akiza watched as Jack, Crow, Bruno, and Joey sprinted out of the Darks. She tried to move her own bars, the way they had, but the iron wasn’t quite loose enough for her to get through. She could see Leo trying to console Luna, and Yusei had the still form of Yugi slung over one shoulder as he agilely avoided falling rocks. They needed to get out before they were all crushed.  
“Akiza! Look!” It was Téa, pointing up. Akiza pulled her eyes away from her friends, seeing what had the brunette so excited. There was a hole in the ceiling above them. They could escape. But what about everyone else?  
“Akiza, you have a chance! Go!” It was Yusei.  
“Why do you all have to be so selfless and heroic? Move it!” Trudge yelled.  
Torn, Akiza looked from Téa to Yusei, then to the twins. How could she just leave?  
“Akiza, move!”   
Yusei’s panicked warning came just in time. Akiza jumped back, narrowly avoiding a large chunk of ceiling. If she and Téa didn’t leave right now, they wouldn’t live to help anyone else. Still, it broke her heart to leave her friends helpless like that…  
She knew she had to leave. She knelt and cupped her hands together, giving Téa a boost. The brunette quickly leaned back down and pulled Akiza up. Just as the Shadow Dragon shook loose the rest, the girls leaped clear, sliding along the black marble floor and knocking the legs from under a young boy as a wordless scream of rage sounded throughout the castle. A vicious claw knocked them back into the wall, leaving them dazed along with a group of children and a blonde that they knew all too well.  
“Mai!”  
Mai looked up, her violet eyes widening in surprise when she saw Akiza and Téa. They didn’t have time for greetings, however. A rather huge and menacing-looking head loomed behind them, red eyes simmering and a growl reverberating from deep within its throat. And standing atop that head…  
He was handsome, in a way. His hair was short and jet-black, his skin slightly tan. His face was strong, with prominent cheekbones, and dark brows above his eyes. One was blue, the other honey-gold. But they were set in an expression of pure hatred, his gaze piercing. The rest of his body was swathed in dark robes.  
“Is.. is that..?” Akiza gaped. He only looked like he was in his early to mid-twenties, not much older than her age of seventeen.  
“Merzol,” Mai finished grimly, grabbing the hand of a small girl and shooting to her feet, the rest following. Akiza boosted the boy that she had slid into onto her back, Téa doing the same to a girl lagging behind.  
_You’d be dead right now if I wanted it._  
Akiza didn’t respond. Somehow, seeing the face of their enemy had… changed it, in a way. Suddenly he wasn’t just a hooded mysterious figure. Suddenly he was a boy, hurt, lost, and alone. He had been twisted, shunned… like her. Wasn’t this what the Black Rose had done? Put on a mask and gone seeking revenge on those who called her a monster? On those who she felt had wronged her? Sayer had fueled that anger by feeding her lies. Lies that she had so foolishly believed, thinking that the Arcadia Movement was the one place where she belonged. Sayer had turned her into a weapon.  
_There’s someone else, isn’t there?_ Akiza asked triumphantly. _Someone who took you in, made you feel like you belonged._  
_You’re in dangerous territory, Black Rose._ A claw crashed down in front of them, blocking their path, while the rest of the Shadow Dragon came from behind. They were trapped. Merzol had tired of playing with them.  
_Caught like mice. Come with me._  
The dragon scooped them into its talons and burst upward in a roar of determination, breaking through the layers of marble and into the open plains of the Shadow World. Its massive wings unfolded, beating powerfully once, twice, lifting them into the air. Below, the remnants of the castle crumbled into dust, the blood-red walls surrounding it collapsing in on themselves.  
“No!” Akiza screamed, staring in horror at the devastation. Jack, Crow, Bruno, Joey, Leo, Luna, Yugi… and Yusei. Everyone had been in there. Trudge, Kaiba, all the citizens of New Domino. They had all been trapped inside.  
Merzol said nothing. He didn’t even look back. Mai and Téa were shocked into silence. The children sat frozen. The Shadow Dragon’s wings beat a steady rhythm as it carried them away, before suddenly snapping closed, the beast tipping forward in a steep dive. A strange pulsing glow of red came up from the earth, enveloping them as they plunged right in.  
As Akiza’s eyes adjusted to the sudden glare, her heart dropped. They were in a pit, surrounded by cages of people with blank, soulless eyes. And the bottom of the pit was covered by a swirling portal of black fire. The dragon didn’t even slow down. When they emerged from the portal, Akiza’s eyes were met with an achingly familiar skyline, just as the Shadow Dragon let loose a stream of pitch-dark flame onto New Domino City.


	18. Defiance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am now completely caught up with what I have on FanFiction! This unfortunately means that updates will most likely be limited to once a week. But here's chapter 18, hope you enjoy! Comments, ideas, advice, etc. is always appreciated. Let me know what you think of my writing!  
> I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, unfortunately. They belong to Kazuki Takahashi. I do own Merzol, this plot, the Shadow Dragon, and the Shadow World.

Coughing, Joey pushed himself into a kneeling position, only to feel his head brush something that was definitely not a wall. He looked up in surprise, seeing the legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon standing above him- protecting him. It had a small ball of white lightning in its mouth, lighting the small area. Kaiba was on one knee nearby, the effort that it took for his dragon to keep the weight of tons of stone off of them clearly showing on his face.  
That’s right! He remembered running out of the Darks with Jack, Crow, and Bruno. He remembered rounding a corner at top speed and quite literally running into Kaiba. He also remembered the brunet’s annoyed exclamation of “Get off me, mutt!” After that, it was a jumble of the castle shaking, rocks falling, and then the floor giving way beneath his feet.  
“You have a dragon too, mutt, so use it before everything collapses and kills us all!”  
“Right…” Joey gave a sheepish shrug, earning an annoyed grunt in response. A few tries later, Red-Eyes Black Dragon loomed above them, spreading its leathery wings and adding its strength to Blue-Eyes’. Joey grunted, falling to a knee as he felt even a ghost of the immense weight above them. If the dragons disappeared…  
A flash of flame made Joey jump back, only to find himself face to face with a row of sharp teeth. He gave a very manly yelp of surprise, stumbling back. When he figured out what it was, Red Dragon Archfiend and Jack Atlas earned themselves a death glare. However, some of the strain lessened as the third dragon took its share of the burden.  
_How the heck did Kaiba do this all on his own?_ Joey wondered, shooting a quick glance over at the brunet. An icy sapphire glare greeted him, and he frowned.   
A groan just behind Joey made him whirl around, but it was just Crow.  
“Ouch,” the ginger muttered. The side of his head was bleeding, where a falling rock had caught him. Luckily it wasn’t that bad, but Crow still complained the ears off everyone present. Blackwing helped, the four dragons holding up tons of marble and rock.  
“Where’s Bruno?” Joey asked finally.  
“Hey! Guys! Hello?” It sounded like the very mechanic that was missing. Joey frowned, peering at where the voice had come from. A moment later, a familiar blue-haired head emerged from behind Blue-Eyes. “What happened?”  
“The castle collapsed, we’re trapped, and we’re probably going to die,” Crow supplied helpfully.  
“We need to have the dragons push the rocks away. They can’t hold it forever, and neither can we,” Seto said.  
“On three,” Joey responded. “One, two, THREE!”  
With roars of determination, the four dragons reared upward on their hind legs, pushing with their wings and forelegs. The rocks shifted as the duelists below forced themselves to their feet along with their beasts.   
“Almost… there…” Crow panted, straining against the weight he felt from Blackwing.   
“No we’re not.”  
“Shut up, Jack.”  
Out of the corner of his eye, Joey could see Seto roll his eyes and give an irritated sigh.  
Blue-Eyes roared, sending a burst of white lightning up, blasting away the weight but also causing it to shudder and fall in. The dragons grabbed their masters and beat their wings, bursting out through the rocks and landing carefully atop the ruins.  
“Oh…” Joey stared in dismay. The Shadow World was as desolate and sinister as ever, but there was none of the castle left standing. Creatures searched through the rubble, but other than that there was no movement. Not a single human being was above ground but them. He knew that everyone in the Darks had their monsters, but he hoped that they had been able to use them before the castle collapsed. As for Tristan… he had been the only one of them not in the Darks, but he wasn’t a duelist. He didn’t have any monsters to protect himself with.  
“Joey! Look!” Crow shook the blond’s arm, pointing. The shadow creatures may have seemed to be wandering aimlessly, but as Joey watched, he could see that they were all roughly heading in the same direction. Towards an ominous red light in the distance.  
“What is it?” Joey asked.  
“Merzol and his Shadow Dragon must have gone somewhere. I’m guessing that the creatures are following him, presumably back to the real world,” Seto responded, and for once there was no contempt in his tone as he spoke to the blond.  
“All those creatures, in the real world?!” Crow’s gray eyes were wide as he stared in horror after the lumbering crowd.  
“Along with the Shadow Dragon, the world doesn’t stand a chance without us,” Seto said. It wasn’t arrogant; it was a fact. Monsters had to be fought with monsters. Their group was the only thing that could possibly stand between Merzol and total world domination.  
“What about everyone else?” Bruno asked.  
“Crow and Joey stay and look with you. Jack and I will follow the crowd. We’ll slow down Merzol.” Seto didn’t wait for protests. He mounted Blue-Eyes and took off, flying silently above the shadow creatures. A moment later, Archfiend joined him, ridden by Jack. The others had seen the sense in his suggestion. Some needed to try and slow down the evil. Others needed to help their friends. There was strength in numbers. But against the Shadow Dragon, Seto wasn’t sure that it would be enough.  
…….  
Téa felt numb, the destruction of the black castle replaying itself in her mind. How could they all just be gone? Just like that? The Shadow Dragon burned through street after street, as they were forced to watch. Those who hadn’t been taken to the Shadow World ran for their lives, but in many cases could not escape the flame. The dragon alighted on the tallest building, letting out an earth-shaking roar. The screens all throughout the city flickered before switching on to reveal Merzol, his hood again concealing his face.  
 _People of New Domino. These few are all that are left of those gone missing, and that includes all the Signers but the Black Rose Witch. Weren’t they supposed to be your saviors?_ Merzol gave a spine-chilling laugh as citizens watched with wide, scared eyes. Some simply sat frozen, stunned by the turn of events, while others were bent in sorrow, tears shining in eyes for the loss of loved ones, taken either by the Shadow Dragon’s fire or lost in the collapse of the castle.  
 _This city belongs to me now. Do not resist this, or I will regrettably be forced to eliminate you._ Merzol didn’t sound like he regretted this at all. As if to go along with its master’s words, the Shadow Dragon roared again, shooting a burst of black flame into the sky.   
_Live while you can. Soon enough, my shadow creatures will arrive._ With those chilling words, the screens flickered and went black.  
Téa looked over at the others. Mai was on her knees, staring at nothing, while silent tears fell down Akiza’s cheeks. The children weren’t old enough to truly understand, except maybe Hikari, but the group was quiet, sitting obediently in the Shadow Dragon’s claws.  
“What do we do?” the brunette asked softly. The question seemed to snap Akiza out of her stupor. Wiping her eyes, she looked up at the sky, quickly darkening.  
“If we truly are the… the last ones, we fight. We fight with everything we have,” she said, no trace of uncertainty in her voice.  
Akiza pulled out Black Rose Dragon, staring at the card for a moment before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. Black Rose had been destroyed by the shadows, but her spirit was still there. Akiza could feel it. Her dragon was there and willing to fight to the last.  
 _For Jack, Crow, Leo, Luna. For Tristan, Kaiba, Yugi, Joey and Yami. For Bruno and Trudge, everyone in the Shadow World. And… for Yusei._  
Akiza’s eyes flew open, feeling a surge of power course through her body. She stood, a wind picking up around her just how it always did when her signature monster took to the skies.  
“Come forth, Black Rose Dragon,” she whispered.  
In a shower of rose petals, a familiar form took shape. Rose-red eyes opened, an almost comforting roar shaking the building. Black Rose flapped its wings twice, shooting forward and grabbing Akiza, depositing her on its back. The two wheeled around in the air, defiantly staring down the Shadow Dragon.  
“You want this world? You’re going to have to fight for it.” The Black Rose symbol on Akiza’s back flashed into life, the energy stabilizer in her hair glowing and eventually coming out altogether. Her burgundy bangs hung over her face, but when she looked up, Téa was taken aback by the psychic duelist’s determination. It was clear that she would fight. She would fight to her last breath.


	19. It's Not Enough

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whew, I'm back! Happy Fourth of July everyone! I have spent the last few days in Mackinac Island and it is beautiful and I want to live here. KiryuFanGirl- that idea actually goes along perfectly with the ending I had in mind and I totally agree that Kalin Kessler is pretty awesome ;-). Anyway, hope you enjoy chapter 19! Reviews, ideas, advice, etc. are always appreciated, thank you Guest and KiryuFanGirl!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's but I do own this story.

When Crow kicked over a rock, he didn't expect to have a mechanical wing smack him in the nose. But that was, unfortunately, what happened. It resulted in howls of laughter from Joey, snickers from Bruno and a string of rather loud curses from the ginger.

"Ow! What the- Power Tool Dragon?" Crow frowned, seriously thinking about giving that dragon a good kick.

Red-Eyes landed next to the tail Signer, throwing aside rubble to unearth the entirety of the mechanical monster and the twins. It seemed that the impending threat of death to him and his sister had been a good motive for Leo to summon.

"Hey Crow!" The boy looked rather proud of himself, a goofy grin on his face. Luna, on the other hand, seemed stricken, her face pale.

Bruno leaned over and reached a hand out to Leo, who grabbed it eagerly. Crow reached out to Luna, grabbing the younger girl under the arms and lifting her out. Power Tool Dragon jumped out after them, settling next to Red-Eyes while Blackwing sat behind Crow.

Joey shrugged sheepishly. "We're not entirely sure. Kaiba and Jack chased the Shadow Dragon, but other than that I have no clue."

Leo nodded determinedly. "Then we have to find them. Come on!" He took off running, Power Tool just behind him. Crow, Bruno, Joey, and Luna followed more slowly, hiding from view when they had to, but it didn't seem to matter. The shadow creatures paid no attention to them.

Crow cast more than a few worried glances at the claw Signer. She seemed to know what was going on around her, but she didn't talk to them. She didn't even find anything to tease Leo about. She was usually quiet, but not like this. Crow knew that a vision of all his friends being murdered would probably traumatize him beyond any help, and then seeing the very dragon that did it? He felt terrible for Luna, but he didn't know what he could do to help.

"Hey! Look, it's… oh…" Leo trailed off. Crow exchanged a worried look with Joey and Bruno before running to the boy, Luna trailing behind.

Leo turned away from whatever he had found, his face white. He seemed shocked into silence. Crow put an arm around his shoulders, a bit scared to look past the boy.

It was a body. Not anyone they knew, but still… the man was trapped under the rocks, only his shoulders and head visible, along with one arm. Crow gently turned Leo away, giving the man a wide berth. He looked back to see Bruno blocking the sight from Luna, making sure that he was between them. Leo stayed close to them after that, and often seemed scared to look ahead.

"Anything?" Bruno finally asked.

Crow shook his head. "Can't see anyone alive."

"Just wait, there'll be someone here," Joey said confidently. Then, quieter, "there has to be."

….

Trudge's Goyo Guardian sprang to life, catching the ceiling with a grunt as it began to fall. He looked over, surprised and more than a little worried when the silver dragon that used to irritate him so much didn't appear above Yusei and Yugi. Instead, the head Signer, with Yugi's limp form over one shoulder, was trying desperately to avoid the falling rocks.

"Yusei!" he called. Yusei looked up, seeing his chance to run as the walls fell in. He skidded across the floor, sliding to a stop under the protection of the monster that caused him so much trouble. Breathing hard, he dropped to his knees, setting Yugi down on the ground beside him.

"Where's Stardust?"

Yusei didn't meet his eyes. "I couldn't summon him. I don't know why, but I just… couldn't." In truth, Yusei knew exactly why he couldn't summon. Maybe he could in the real world, but that was before the betrayal. That was before Merzol summoned the Shadow Dragon because he handed over Yami's Shadow Magic. That was before he felt so hopeless. He couldn't summon Stardust Dragon because he didn't believe like he used to. He wanted to, desperately, but he had seen how easily Merzol separated Yugi and Yami when no one else had.

Trudge gritted his teeth as Goyo Guardian gave a hiss of effort, the ceiling dipping lower. Part of it cracked, causing Yusei to grab Yugi and jump back, almost directly under the monster. A brunet fell through the hole, letting out a yelp of surprise as he hit the hard ground.

"Tristan?!"

"Great day, isn't it?" Tristan responded sarcastically, narrowly avoiding a large chunk and wincing at the sudden movement.

"Yusei Fudo, summon already!" Trudge muttered through gritted teeth. As more of the castle fell in, Goyo Guardian took on more weight. He couldn't hold this forever. He needed Stardust Dragon, or they were all done for.

….

Yugi saw everything. He saw Yusei save him. He saw Trudge and Goyo Guardian hold up the weight of the castle. He saw Tristan fall through the ceiling. But he was trapped, unable to do anything. It was like he was watching it all through someone else's eyes, or perhaps like it was a movie. He could watch, but he couldn't do anything to help the characters. He tried, many times, but nothing happened. He felt Yami's presence through the Puzzle, but the pharaoh never answered.

 _Yami?_ He thought out desperately. _Yami!_ Nothing. He knew that pharaoh was alive, but they had no contact.

 _Yami!_ He could feel his other self, but for some reason couldn't reach him. He grasped the Puzzle firmly with both hands, closing his eyes and trying to forget about the situation at hand, trying to focus on his bond with the pharaoh. They knew everything about each other, even shared a body…

_Yami! Yami!_

_Yu…gi?_

The connection was faint, barely audible, but it was there.

_Yami! Where are you?_

_Don't…know…dark…trapped…_

The words were distorted, chunks of the sentence missing, but Yugi heard enough. Yami had no idea where he was, it was dark, and he was trapped. What he did know as well as Yugi did was that they had to get out. It would take every last ounce of strength to defeat the Shadow Dragon and Merzol, and with two of the group missing nobody stood a chance.

….

Mai thought she was hallucinating when Red Dragon Archfiend and Blue-Eyes White Dragon came roaring out of the sky, sending bursts of flame and white lightning at the Shadow Dragon. Akiza had fought well, ferociously, but even she couldn't hold out for long. Therefore, the two most irritating and arrogant human beings in existence suddenly seemed like a godsend. Jack and Kaiba didn't let the sight of the destruction of the city slow them down. They dove toward the Shadow Dragon without a second thought, momentarily taking its attention away from Akiza and giving the claw Signer a much needed breather.

Mai's violet eyes narrowed in determination. She stood in the Shadow Dragon's claws, holding out a card that she hoped would help.

"Come forth, Harpy's Pet Dragon!" Harpy Lady may have been her favorite card, but the dragon would do more harm to the opposing beast.

The red monster burst out, scoring a hit along the Shadow Beast's neck with the element of surprise, but the attack barely left a mark. The Shadow Dragon growled, launching itself into the air and spinning around, bringing its tail around like a whip and smacking into Archfiend. The dragon was knocked down, its wing crumpling. Blue-Eyes and Black Rose immediately dropped into steep dives after the falling monster. Kaiba went after Jack, managing to catch the wing Signer before he hit the ground and depositing him on a nearby building. Akiza used her dragon's vines to stop Archfiend's descent, dropping him next to Jack.

"You okay?" she called.

Jack nodded, glancing at his dragon. Archfiend looked ahead, stretching out his wings and roaring a challenge. He wasn't going to let this stop him.

Mai ducked a claw as her monster pulled her up into the air, letting her climb onto its back. She wheeled around, hovering above her friends and facing the Shadow Dragon.

_Ah, ah, ah. Remember what I still have?_

The Shadow Dragon held up the claw that it held the children in, slightly tightening its grasp.

_You know what I could do. Land, Mai Valentine, Seto Kaiba, and Black Rose. On the ground, now. Go with them, Jack Atlas._

Horrified, Mai could only do as she was told, slowly descending. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Akiza, Seto, and Jack do the same. Their stiff postures told her that none of them liked it, but they wouldn't sacrifice the children.

_That's it. Step away from the monsters now._

Bristling, Mai dismounted and took a few steps back.

" _They're_ not the monsters!" Akiza shot back at Merzol, but she did as she was told, exchanging a glance with Mai. The dragons growled, pawing the ground and shaking their heads, lightning crackling in Blue-Eyes' mouth, smoke billowing from Archfiend's and Harpy's nostrils and a wind stirring the air around Black Rose. But even they knew that they couldn't attack without harming the children. If left unchallenged, the Shadow Dragon would destroy what was left of New Domino and then move on to the rest of the world, the army of shadow creatures in its wake. But if challenged, Kokoro, Hikari, Taiga, Daichi, and Ginga would die. Mai knew that there was no way she would put them in danger. But she had no idea what would happen to the rest of the world if they continued following Merzol's orders.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a real cliffhanger problem. Sorry not sorry ;-). If writer's block doesn't decide to visit, it should be pretty soon that I update because I will be in the car for 5 hours tomorrow. Anyway, reviews and stuff are always appreciated, see you as soon as possible with chapter 20!


	20. Before It's Too Late

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I will be going to camp tomorrow, so I won't update for a few weeks, but I will update when I get back, I promise!  
> Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, but I do own this story.

“…I’m gonna go,” Joey said finally, his eyes on the crowd of shadow creatures. Crow raised an eyebrow.  
“I won’t stop you. Just don’t die,” the ginger responded.  
“Nah. Can’t kill Joey Wheeler.” Joey winked before mounting Red-Eyes and taking off after Jack and Seto. Crow, Bruno, and the twins stared after him a moment, before turning back to the rubble.   
“They’ve been down there too long. We need to get them out. Either the monsters will run out of strength or they’ll run out of air,” Bruno said worriedly.  
Power Tool Dragon and Blackwing let out twin roars, as if to say that they wouldn’t let that happen. Crow grinned. “Right. Come on!”  
Rocks shifted as they walked, making footing unsure and causing more than a few skinned hands and knees. They called until their voices were hoarse, but there was never any answer.  
“They’re under a good few feet of rock. They most likely never heard us in the first place,” Bruno offered helpfully.  
Crow glared at him. “Doesn’t mean we can’t try.”  
“You already tried.”  
Crow’s frown grew deeper, and he was about to open his mouth and let Bruno know _exactly_ what he thought when Luna tugged on his arm, her voice even quieter than usual.  
“Look, over there,” she said softly, pointing. Crow followed her finger, eventually seeing what she was talking about. There was a large area of sunken rock, presumably marking the location of the Darks, but there was an irregularly shaped raised patch in the middle.  
“That has to be a monster holding it up,” Bruno said, excitement lacing his tone.  
Crow began to pick his way over the rubble, careful not to step on the raised area and add more weight to the trapped people.  
“Blackwing, help,” he said, glancing up at the feathered dragon. Blackwing gave a low growl of agreement, beginning to use his huge beak to pull away rocks. Power Tool Dragon used his talons, not risking harming whoever was inside by drilling into the rock.  
“Isn’t that Leo’s dragon?”  
“Is that Trudge?” Bruno muttered, peering into the hole. “Hey, Yusei and Tristan too! And Yugi!”  
Goyo Guardian sprang out, hauling Yusei up by the back of his jacket and Tristan by his ankle. The raven-haired Signer still had a hold on Yugi’s wrist, but the famous young duelist was limp as a rag doll.  
Power Tool Dragon pulled Trudge out, dropping him next to the others.  
“Where’s Stardust?” Crow asked.  
“What happened to everyone else?” Yusei changed the subject.  
“I’m pretty sure that Akiza, Mai, and Téa were taken by the Shadow Dragon. Kaiba, Jack, and Joey flew off with their dragons not too long ago,” Bruno answered. “The crowd of shadow creatures is completely ignoring us now. They were following the Shadow Dragon, probably to New Domino.”  
“The black crystals, did Merzol take them with him?” the head Signer asked.  
Crow shrugged. “Don’t know. I doubt he would have been able to carry that many, though.”  
“Then wouldn’t they be here?”  
“Oh!” Bruno caught on to what Yusei was trying to say. “We could find them!”  
Yusei shrugged. “We could try. They won’t be in the castle. The collapse would have destroyed them, and I doubt that Merzol wants that.”  
“Follow the crowd, then?” Crow asked.  
“Do we have a choice?” Yusei looked at his friends.  
“But what about everyone else?” Luna asked quietly. “What about the people?”  
Most people in the Darks weren’t duelists and didn’t have decks. The Signers and past teens had all seen the rocks come crashing down, seen that they were the only ones who managed to stop it with their monsters. Crow, Yusei, Bruno, and Trudge looked at one another, wondering what to say, but the girl caught on.  
“Oh…”  
Crow knelt to her level, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Well, we’re gonna find those crystals. We’re gonna free those souls and then we’re gonna save the world. Merzol can just try and stop us!”  
Bruno grinned. “Alright then, follow the shadow creatures.” He frowned. “Never thought I’d say that.”  
The small group set out, ignored by the nightmarish creatures. They walked briskly, weaving through the crowd and heading to that strange, pulsing red light. Dry, crackling grass brushed their legs, fur and scales and coarse hair grazed their skin. The walk seemed like an eternity, an eternity of growls, grunts, gleaming teeth and razor claws.  
“What is that?” Crow asked in horror. No one answered. They stood at the edge of a pit, looking down in that bloody, violent red. It pulsed like a heartbeat, steady and strong. At the very bottom swirled a portal of black fire.  
“I’m guessing that’s how they got back to New Domino,” Bruno said. “Come on.” He began to make his way down a steep path, and after a moment’s hesitation the others followed. They passed cages of the blank-eyed people, their empty stares making the teens shiver.  
“Where do we go?” Crow asked, staring at the many branching hallways. There had to be hundreds of thousands of people down here.  
“Um… I have no idea,” Bruno said finally. “I don’t suggest that we split up, though.”  
“We should,” Yusei countered.  
Crow stared. “Have you lost your mind?”  
“I don’t think so. I think we should at least split into two groups. Six of us, plus the dragons and Goyo Guardian up there, would draw too much attention. The shadow creatures may be ignoring us now, but I doubt they will forever,” the head Signer explained.  
“I don’t like it, but it makes sense,” Trudge grudgingly admitted.   
“Trudge, can you take the twins? Crow, you go with them too,” Yusei said.  
“Yes, sir,” Crow responded with a mock salute. “And I suppose the mechanics will go off together?”  
“Bruno and I will look around,” Yusei agreed. “I'll keep Yugi with us. I just hope we can find the crystals in time.”  
…….  
Red-Eyes dove straight for the Shadow Dragon’s claw, managing to take the beast by surprise. Joey’s dragon slammed right into the side of its foot, freeing the children but also sending them freefalling through the air.   
“Little help, guys!” he yelled down to the grounded duelists. Red-Eyes was able to grab Kokoro and Hikari, but that left Daichi, Ginga, and Taiga.  
Black vines whipped through the air, curling around the children and slowing their fall, setting them safely on the ground.  
“Hide!” Akiza told them frantically, shooing them away. “Run!”  
“Wheeler, you did something right,” Mai said with a smirk, now mounted on Harpy’s Pet Dragon as the blond landed. “I’m impressed.”  
Joey frowned. “Is that an insult? Cause if it is-”  
“Oh, you idiot.” Mai leaned over the gap between their monsters, grabbed him by the jacket, and pulled his lips to hers. When she pulled back, Joey was red-faced and trying to unsuccessfully stammer out a reply, but grinning like a loon.  
Jack ruined it. “Uh, guys? That’s sweet and all, but there’s a giant dragon trying to kill us. I would suggest you stop gazing dreamily into each other’s eyes and save the world first.”  
“Then let’s do it,” Mai said determinedly, turning to face the Shadow Dragon. Merzol laughed.  
_You think you can beat me?_  
“Oh, yeah,” Akiza responded, a dangerous gleam in her eyes. She, like Kaiba, Jack, and Mai, had mounted her dragon. Black Rose roared a challenge, agreeing with her mistress.  
_Ah, never mind. I am ready._  
“Ready for what? Defeat?” Jack yelled, his usual arrogant smirk on his face.  
_No. The annihilation of your cruel world. And you will not be able to stop me._  
Shadows leaped from buildings, corners, and alleys, swirling around Merzol and his massive beast. The darkness swirled thicker and thicker, until the two were completely hidden from view. Archfiend let out a stream of flame, but it did nothing. The duelists watched in horror as the shadows grew, when abruptly, they vanished. And so had Merzol and the Shadow Dragon.  
“Coward,” was the first thing that came out of Jack’s mouth, right before the building behind him disappeared.  
“He didn’t run away,” Akiza realized. “Jack, nothing hit the building behind you, right? It was perfectly fine?”  
Jack nodded.  
“Then what’s the only reason the building could’ve disappeared?”  
Jack shrugged.  
“If it was never there in the first place,” Akiza said triumphantly. “Merzol went back in time.”  
“Then how are we supposed to stop him when he’s destroying everything before it even happened and we’re stuck here?” Joey asked.  
Akiza looked around, at buildings vanishing right alongside innocent people. “I have no idea,” she said softly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Merzol's travels, would anyone like a certain hyper Slifer Red to show up? Or anyone else. Let me know who you think I should add, or nobody. Anyway, I'll be back in a few weeks!


	21. Slipping Away

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And I'm back! This chapter is considerably longer than the others- not the longest, though, but still pretty long- so I hope that makes up somewhat for how long I was gone. I don't know as much about Arc-V or Zexal as I do about the others, so just bear with me on those ones! Let me know if I did something wrong or got any characters wrong, it'd be appreciated so I can fix it. Anyway, reviews, advice, and ideas, suggestions, etc. are appreciated! Enjoy chapter 21!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! GX, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Yu-Gi-Oh! Arc-V, or Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS. However, I do own this story.

"Stupid Slifer slacker," a rather frustrated boy muttered, dragging his feet and kicking stones as he walked. He had been beaten yet again, and of course she had to walk in at the exact time the finishing blow was dealt. The world always seemed to be in the brunet's favor, and he didn't know what to do about it. He'd rebuilt his deck time and time again. It was never enough, even when his opponent didn't change. He just wasn't good enough!

He let out a frustrated yell at the sky.

"Hey Chazz! Whatcha doin'?"

_Oh my God, are you kidding me?_

"What?" Chazz asked irritably, turning to face the very same Slifer slacker that all of his problems stemmed from. Jaden Yuki. He was currently standing a few feet away from the raven-haired boy, that annoying lopsided smile on his face and his brown eyes simply curious.

"Syrus and Chumley are going to help me practice. Wanna come?"

"No."

"Oh, and I think Alexis might be coming too."

Chazz hesitated, but ultimately his answer was the same. "No."

"Aw! Well, we'll be…" Jaden frowned as he tried to think exactly where they were going to be. "We'll be in one of the duel arenas if you decide to join us!" he finished brightly. "See ya!" He turned to go, but before he could take a step away from his rival he was blown backward, bowling said boy over as the wind suddenly picked up to a speed that Jaden couldn't even stand in. The skies turned dark, previously a bright and beautiful spring day.

Chazz gave yell of surprise and pain as the storm slammed him and Jaden into a tree. The hyper brunet tried to push himself up, looking through half-closed eyes and his mouth set in a determined grimace. But he would have never expected what he did see. A massive shadow was taking up most of his vision, the black of an abyss.

"What _is_ that?" he asked in horror as the thing came closer. It had a dragon shape, but high above atop its head there seemed to be a human figure. The dragon lowered its head, and as the figure came closer Jaden could make out two small items in its hands. They glinted like crystals.

Behind Jaden, Chazz screamed. A crystal flashed and disappeared. Chazz himself was gone along with it, and the wind smacked Jaden's head against the tree trunk. Dazed, he could only watch as the remaining crystal was held out to him. Pain suddenly racked his body. He let out a yell similar to the one that only moments ago had come out of Chazz's mouth. And then he was gone.

…..

_I do believe that it would have been beneficial to study for that test instead of challenging Shark again._

"Shut up, Astral."

_Your grade, at the very least, might've been higher than D._

"Shut up, Astral!"

_And your grandmother might've let you go to the movies with Tori and Bronk._

"ASTRAL SHUT UP!"

_I am merely stating that you should learn from your mistakes._

Yuma settled for sending the spirit a death glare instead of responding. Astral only looked at him in that frustratingly calm way, his arms loosely folded across his chest. The boy threw up his hands in annoyance, stalking off.

_Where are you going?_

"Away from you."

_You cannot. I am bound to you by that key around your neck._

"Don't remind me," Yuma grumbled as Astral trailed after him.

The sky went nearly black as the wind picked up in a sudden gust. Yuma gave a shriek of surprise as he was tossed backwards into the side of the school. A shadow filled the sky, landing in front of the duelist. Terrified, Yuma looked up at it. He was trapped.

"Astral?"

The spirit was about to reply, but instead gave a gasp, turning wide eyes on the silhouette before he was gone. The last thing Yuma saw was the vague outline of a figure on the shadow's head before the world went black.

….

"And that's how it's done!" Yuya crowed, dancing a little jig of victory as Zuzu's life points dropped to zero.

"You got lucky with that hit, Yuya," she grumbled. "If I could Pendulum Summon…"

"You still wouldn't beat me!" Yuya stuck his tongue out, causing the girl to roll her eyes. The two headed back to where Zuzu's father was checking up on the Solid Vision system. Zuzu hadn't broken this one yet.

"Go on home, kids," he said when he saw them. "It's purring like a kitten!"

Yuya grinned, and Zuzu waved as the two of them started the walk home. When they stepped out the door, it immediately slammed shut as they were thrown back into it, the wind whipping up their hair, throwing debris like leaves and twigs at them.

"It wasn't like this half a second ago!" Zuzu shrieked, hands up to protect her face.

"Is that natural?!" Yuya ducked, a twig catching his cheek. But it wasn't the storm they had to worry about. It was what caused it.

The ground shook as a massive beast landed in front of them. They were trapped. They couldn't go back inside; the storm was too strong for them to even attempt to open the doors. They couldn't go anywhere else, because this beast blocked the way.

Zuzu screamed, and then right before Yuya's very eyes, she disappeared. Gone, just like that.

"ZUZU!"

Yuya Sakaki. Your pendulum should make an interesting addition.

The last he heard was an eerie laugh before everything went dark.

….

"I'm so happy! Look! I got my body program back from Revolver!"

Yusaku ignored Ignis, instead trying to find anything he could on Revolver or his father and Hanoi. He couldn't find much beyond what he had known before.

"LOOK AT ME!"

Yusaku finally glanced down at the AI. "What?"

"Look! I'm more than just an eye now! I'm beautiful!"

Yusaku frowned at the tiny creature standing on his duel disk. Instead of responding, he went back to hacking, eventually changing tactics and quickly checking in on Aoi through the hospital's cameras. Akira was still by his sister's side.

"Ooh, checking on your girlfriend?" Ignis grinned.

A howl of laughter reached the two as the door to the trailer shut. Kusanagi was back, having just seen if he could collect anything about the Knights of Hanoi from the news.

"Yusaku? With a girlfriend? Yeah, that's likely!" He doubled over laughing, accompanied by Ignis' raucous shouts.

Yusaku made a little irritated noise in the back of his throat, frowning at the duo. "Aoi is not my girlfriend."

"You saved her life, risking your own in the process!" Ignis pointed out. "True love!"

"One: It was my fault she was in a coma in the first place. Two: I can't remember most of my life, and Revolver might've had the answers. Three: It would be a major blow to Hanoi if I defeated Revolver."

"Come on, Yusaku! You know you did it for her!" Kusanagi waggled his eyebrows.

"Besides, your drive for revenge against Hanoi could be for her as well!" Ignis said with glee.

Yusaku glared at them.

"Okay, you win. Let's go get smoothies." Kusanagi managed, with some effort, to control his laughter.

"He stays here." Yusaku pointed to Ignis.

"What? I want to come! See the world! And wouldn't the world want to see how I look now, too? I'm amazing!"

Yusaku shoved him in a drawer. And locked it.

Yusaku and Kusanagi didn't get far before the storm hit. One second blue skies and warm sun, the next driving rain and black clouds.

"Think it could be Hanoi?" Kusanagi yelled over the wind, stumbling back a few steps.

"If it is, I'm surprised they could strike back so fast," Yusaku responded. _Unless they've figured out that I'm Playmaker,_ he added silently to himself. If they had, they'd caught him at a time when he was practically powerless.

A massive shadow overtook them. The wind picked up, driving them both into the side of a building.

Yusaku shielded his eyes, but he couldn't see anything past the rain. Just a shadow, bigger than any monster he'd ever seen. Bigger than Borreload Dragon. Bigger than Firewall Dragon. Much bigger.

Something glinted high above. Kusanagi gave a short cry, before he faded. He disappeared, right in front of a horrified Yusaku.

"Kusanagi?!"

A wrenching pain made the young duelist gasp, and then he felt nothing.

….

Seto had been missing for over a week now. Mokuba had no idea where he could've gone or why he didn't say anything first. He would've written it off as one of his brother's impromptu business trips if Yugi and all of his friends hadn't disappeared as well. All at the same time and not a trace of them since. Mokuba himself was rather uneasy as he walked the halls of the Kaiba mansion alone. What could just take them all like that? It wasn't normal, that was for sure. Maybe it was something to do with the Millennium Items again.

 _Usually I'm the one getting kidnapped,_ he thought with a wry grin. The disappearances had been all over the news, but nobody had gotten farther in the mystery than 'they're gone.' He was scared for them, what had happened to them. It couldn't be good.

Mokuba walked past the giant double doors just as someone knocked loudly. He froze. It wasn't his brother. Seto never knocked. He raced up the stairs, peering down from a balcony at the visitor. It wasn't anyone he recognized, but he didn't look much older than Seto. From Mokuba's view, he couldn't see his face, but he wore all black with black combat boots. The top of his head was covered by a thick sheaf of dark hair, and when he raised his fist to knock again Mokuba saw that his skin had a slight tan. He paused, seeming to sense that someone was watching him. Mokuba was too late. The strange man met his gaze, one eye honey-gold and the other blue. Mokuba found himself frozen by the intensity of his stare, but even when shadows pooled in his palms, even when darkness spread around his feet, even when the evil came for him, he couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't move until he was engulfed, where his last thought was, _and for once I thought I wouldn't get kidnapped._

….

Yusei sped around the corner with Bruno in tow, trying not to jostle Yugi too much as they raced through the hallways, trying to find wherever the crystals were before it was too late.

"I doubt they're just going to be lying around in some room," Bruno panted. "They're going to be hidden well, if Merzol gets his power from them. He wouldn't want anyone stumbling onto them by accident."

Yusei reached the edge of the pit, and was about to go sprinting down another hallway when something caught his eye. The swirling portal of black fire in the middle, where the shadow creatures were marching through. It had the same evil, pulsing sheen that the crystals did.

"What?" Bruno asked, doubled over as he tried to catch his breath.

Wordlessly, Yusei pointed downwards. Bruno peered over the edge, eyes widening when he realized what the head Signer had.

"…oh. That could be a problem," he managed. "How do we get them?"

Yusei shrugged. "We have to go down there and figure it out."

"It's surrounded by shadow creatures."

"Not completely. See there? Nothing's walking there, so that could be a good place to start."

Bruno frowned. "You know, there's a high probability that we'll die."

"We'll just have to risk it if we want to save everyone else," Yusei responded. He glanced up at the monsters hovering above the entrance to the pit.

"I wonder…" Yusei knew that he had thought Yugi would be safer with them than with the monsters, because the dragons would draw more attention, but he knew that the unconscious high schooler couldn't go with them to the portal. He'd slow them down and they'd be putting his life in danger. So the head Signer called Goyo Guardian to him.

"What are you doing? I doubt Trudge would be happy if we got his monster destroyed," Bruno said, rather confused.

"I'm not bringing Goyo Guardian with us," Yusei responded. He slipped Yugi off of his shoulder, giving him to the Duel Monster instead.

"Oh… smart." Bruno placed a hand on Yusei's shoulder. "Ready?"

Yusei nodded. "Let's go."

They ended up giving up in their search for an easy path to the bottom and began to climb down. The rock was uneven, ledges jutting out here and there. It wasn't too hard to find hand and footholds once they started. The only trouble was keeping that grip the whole (very, very long) way down. They had each slipped a number of times, either catching themselves just in time or the other helping them find their balance.

Bruno gave a yelp of surprise, a ledge crumbling under his weight. He slid the final six or so feet, landing in an ungraceful heap at the bottom. Yusei leaped down a second later, landing on his feet. They were just feet from the swirling black fire, pressed against the wall.

"So… now what?" Bruno asked, wincing and rubbing his shoulder.

"Get to that open spot. Once we see it up close, we can decide what to do." Yusei began to walk, careful about where he put his feet to avoid stepping on a loose stone and being sent flying into the portal. Bruno followed, one hand steadied on the wall beside them. They wove through the crowd of shadow creatures, the beasts themselves paying the two no mind. They were wary all the same.

The avoided area was about five feet in width. The crowd of shadow creatures parted like the Red Sea a good distance away from it, as if it would burn them if they got too close. Which left Yusei and Bruno plenty of room to inspect, looking for any way at all to weaken Merzol. The black fire covered their view of anything that might be beneath it.

Bruno sat back with a frustrated groan. "We can't get to the crystals, even if they were there!"

Yusei frowned as he looked at the fire. It was a portal, not like regular fire. "I wonder…" Tentatively, he reached out a hand. He couldn't feel any heat as he grew closer. More confident now, he let the dark flames lick his fingertips. It didn't burn from the heat, but it was so cold that he felt like it did. He let out a small grunt of surprise, but he didn't pull his hand out, not yet. Steeling himself, he plunged in further, until his searching fingers scraped something smooth yet hard, ringing the edge. Yusei pulled back his hand, shaking it out to try and get some warmth back into it.

"What'd you find?"

"The crystals are there. The question is, how to break them?" Yusei frowned. "It seems too easy."

Bruno peered into the flame. A moment later, he leaned back and lashed out with both feet. Crystals shattered with a satisfying crunch, shards falling into the portal to New Domino.

"Like that," the mechanic said with some satisfaction.

"Bruno!" Yusei yanked the teen back, just in time to avoid a shadow creature's claws.

"Whoa!" Bruno stumbled to his feet, eyes wide. "Got your wish, Yusei. It's not easy anymore."

The broken part of the ring of crystals sputtered, crackling with electricity before fading out.

"What was that?" Yusei ducked another beast, kicking it away.

"Remember when none of the runners would work? He must've been using the energy from that to power himself up before he could collect souls or do anything about the Shadow World," Bruno realized. "Breaking the crystals must release whatever's in them."

"Right now I think we should worry about not dying." Yusei grabbed Bruno's jacket, unceremoniously throwing him to the ground to avoid another creature. The crowd was slowly realizing what was happening, turning on the two teens. They backed up, but they were trapped, pressed against the wall with no way to escape. The dragons above dived for them, with every intention to help, but the shadows pushed them back, leaving them hovering above amid roars of frustration.

Yusei glanced at his cards. If he couldn't summon, they were done for. He had to try. No matter what happened to Yugi, if they could get his crystal, they could save him. The thought returned some of Yusei's old confidence. He could still save the young duelist and the pharaoh. If he didn't succeed here, the others would die as well. Bruno, Jack, Crow, Leo, Luna, Trudge, Kaiba, Joey, Mai, Tristan, Téa… and Akiza. Yusei's hand flew to his deck, a familiar white-bordered card resting at the top. The head Signer looked down at the monster in his hand and let out a breath. If he didn't summon now… no, he wouldn't think about that. He had to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And chapter 21 is done! Let me know what you thought, if I got the GX, Zexal, Arc-V, and anything else right or wrong. I appreciate reviews! I'll be back as soon as possible, probably in a week. I don't think there will be too many chapters after this one... *cries*. Anyway, see you soon and The Crimson Dragon's Call will be back!


	22. Unexpected Enemy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, it's been a while! Oops. Anyway, this story is now also on Wattpad! There's only a few more chapters of this story as a whole, though, and to anyone who actually likes this I promise I'll try and update faster! Reviews, advice, suggestions, ideas, kudos, etc. are always appreciated and give me inspiration to write!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-h! 5D's, or any other series that I might use because I'm too lazy to type them all. Anyway, enjoy!

Crow careened around the corner, pulling the twins along behind him and closely followed by Trudge. All they had found was rows and rows of empty-eyed prisoners, no crystals. And they didn’t have the first clue where to look. The pit was huge, and they could be anywhere, small as they were. As the group ran along the edge, Luna stopped the tail Signer from diving into another hallway.  
“Crow! It’s Yusei and Bruno!” she yelled, tugging at his hand. “Look!”  
The ginger stopped, following her finger. His eyes widened, and he cursed. “Those _idiots_!”   
The two were surrounded by shadow creatures, desperately trying to avoid teeth and claws. Two huge shapes shot like arrows past Crow’s group as Blackwing and Power Tool Dragon dived to help, but they were pulled up short as the shadows formed a barrier, cutting off Yusei and Bruno.  
Crow cursed, leaning over the edge and trying to see the two teens. If there was any way to get down there he would. He’d probably be yelled at and called an idiot, but he would.  
“No way down,” he said finally.  
Trudge frowned at him. “What are you planning?”  
Crow grinned. “If I die, make sure Yusei and Akiza get together before the end of the world. Seriously, it’s so obvious. Oh, and make sure to tease them mercilessly.” With that, the ginger gave one, high-pitched whistle. Blackwing Dragon pulled up from the shadow barrier, shooting back up to its master. Crow jumped from the edge, landing neatly on its back and diving down. The shadow barrier was a swirling mass, with holes here and there. The dragons were too big to have any hope of fitting, but Crow would easily be able to. He slid off Blackwing’s back, rolling on impact with the barrier and falling right through a shifting gap. He landed heavily on both feet, right on the edge of the portal. Something crunched and shattered under him, and he had to jump back to avoid falling to New Domino. He smacked into someone behind him and whirled, expecting a shadow creature. Instead, he found a hulking mass of muscle.  
“Greiger? What are you doing here?” Crow yelped.  
Greiger looked around, seemingly disoriented and confused. At the tail Signer’s words, his gaze snapped to the ginger.   
“I’m not sure. I remember teaching my siblings dueling, and then a massive shape appeared in the sky. I do not know what it was, but after that there was nothing. Then I woke up here,” the big man said. “There is darkness here,” he mused, looking around.  
Crow looked at him warily. While he trusted the man to an extent, he had been a Dark Signer.  
Greiger noticed. “Do not worry, Crow. I will help you.” With that, he spun around, smashing a huge fist into a shadow creature and sending it flying.  
“Good,” Crow said faintly. He peered around, avoiding teeth and claws and eventually seeing the two he had come down here for.  
“Greiger! There!”  
The duelist saw Yusei and Bruno at once, and began to clear a path for them. “Yusei!”  
The head Signer’s eyes widened when he saw them.  
“What are you doing here?” he asked, frantically avoiding creatures but getting a punch or kick in here and there.  
“Dunno where Greiger came from, but I came to help,” Crow responded, his eyes darting around, always alert for shadow creatures.  
“Did you break something when you jumped down here?” Bruno asked, shouldering away a creature. There was a scratch below his eye, and Yusei was bleeding from his shoulder, his jacket torn.  
“Yes,” Crow mumbled. “But I didn’t mean to this time-”  
“Good! Those are the crystals, Crow. Break as many as you can!” the mechanic replied excitedly. The ginger perked up immediately, an evil grin spreading across his face.   
“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to hear you say something like that,” he said, rubbing his hands together. Greiger punched a path through to the portal for him, and Crow jumped on the edge, smashing more. A familiar figure stumbled back to the group, regaining his footing and looking around in confusion. His pale blue, almost silver hair hung past his shoulders and in his eyes, a yellow criminal marker starting from his hairline and running straight down over one eye. He wore a long brown trench coat. Yusei recognized him immediately.  
“Kalin?!”  
“Yusei? What’s going on? Where’s Nico and West?”  
“Haven’t seen them here, don’t worry. I’ll explain everything, but right now we should focus on staying alive,” Yusei replied as he fought. Kalin snapped out of his surprised stupor, nodding.   
“Right. Like old times.” He shot a grin that Yusei returned, and the head Signer saw the childhood friend that he had been so close with. Not the Dark Signer, not the man who had freed Crash Town from Lawton. A friend.  
“Let’s do this!” Crow yelled, grinning. The Enforcers weren’t quite complete, but the three of them were nearly unstoppable. With Greiger and Bruno as well, and anyone else he freed, he almost felt bad for the shadow creatures.  
…….  
Mai flew above New Domino on Harpy’s Pet Dragon, searching for any sign of Merzol. She could see Akiza in the distance. Jack, Joey, and Kaiba had their own sections to patrol, and Téa had found the orphans. She was making sure they stayed hidden. So far, the Shadow Dragon had yet to make another appearance, but she doubted that it was in hiding. Somehow, it was growing stronger, that much was clear. The question was if they would be able to defeat it once it was done.  
Her forearm began to throb, pulsing to what seemed like the beat of a gigantic heart. She glanced at it, stabs of worry shooting through her. She tried to ignore it, but it was where the throbbing came from that had her on edge. The shadow creature had bitten her there. Nothing had happened immediately, but she had always wondered if it had a long-term effect. It seemed she was about to find out.  
The throbbing became painful. Mai bit her lip, steering her dragon around to the closest person she could see— Akiza. If she could tell the psychic duelist what was going on, if she could just get to someone…  
She was close enough to see the puzzled look on Akiza’s face when the wound gave one last painful pulse, and she blacked out.  
…….  
Later, Akiza couldn’t recall when she realized, on her patrol around the city, that something wasn’t right. She could feel it, and her suspicions were only proved when she saw Mai. She looked pale, her eyes wide. Even from this distance, Akiza could see the fear on her face. The psychic duelist frowned, and turned Black Rose in the blonde’s direction just as Harpy’s Pet Dragon disappeared.   
“Mai!”  
The harpy duelist was limp as she fell, like she’d simply fainted. Akiza dove for her friend, burgundy bangs whipping her face, but even as Black Rose roared, lashing out vines, the claw Signer knew with a sinking certainty she wouldn’t make it. Her heart pounding, she drove her dragon faster, the tips of the vines nearly close enough to safely carry Mai…  
All of a sudden, the blonde’s eyes snapped open, and she twisted in midair. Harpy’s Pet Dragon reappeared, coming dangerously close to the ground before taking off, shooting back into the air. But there was something different that made Akiza back up Black Rose, circling warily. Her dragon seemed more menacing, its teeth bared in a snarl.   
“Mai?”  
The blonde was emotionless, facing the psychic duelist. Her eyes… as the claw Signer watched, the vibrant violet darkened, her whole eye eventually becoming black. Yes, something was _definitely_ wrong.  
Without warning, she shot forward, her dragon’s claws out with every intention of ripping Akiza apart. Black Rose dropped, rolling under the blonde.  
“I don’t want to fight you, Mai! Snap out of it!” Akiza called desperately. Mai didn’t seem to hear her. Instead, with an eerily twisted cry of rage, she dove for the Signer again. In the close proximity, Akiza noticed something. Her forearm, while covered with her usual lilac glove, looked significantly darker than her other. Tendrils of reaching darkness could be seen just above the glove. Akiza shuddered, turning her brown eyes back to the blonde’s face instead. Her black eyes held no recognition, nothing other than a seething rage. And her dragon looked no better. It roared, spinning around and slamming its tail into Black Rose’s side. The monster gave a cry of pain, black blood dripping from the long gash down its flank. Akiza blinked. She’d never seen her dragon bleed before, but then again, duel monsters didn’t bleed. At least, not usually.  
The psychic duelist bit her lip. She didn’t want to fight Mai, but if she didn’t defend herself she’d be dead within minutes. She didn’t exactly feel like dying, so that left only one option. Thorny vines wrapped around Harpy’s Pet Dragon, trapping its wings to its sides and bringing both beasts down to the roof of a nearby building. Akiza hit the concrete and rolled, the dragons crashing down behind her a moment later. Within seconds they were up fighting, ripping and tearing at each other with teeth and claws. It was almost barbaric to watch.  
“Mai!” Akiza stepped back, trying to see over the writhing bodies for the blonde. But it was clear by now that she wasn’t by the dragons. She could’ve either fallen and missed the building or escaped already.   
A heavy impact on Akiza’s back knocked her off her feet. She let out a grunt of surprise as she hit the ground hard, a whipping vine barely missing her head. She struggled, but an iron grip locked around her throat, someone digging a knee into her back.  
_You’ve been called many things, Akiza Izinski. Black Rose. Witch. Monster. Recently, Signer. But people don’t change that much in such a short amount of time, do they? You still have the monster in you._  
“Stop!” Akiza tried to scream, pulling at the lilac-gloved fingers tightening around her neck.   
_I could say it a million times. You could deny it more. But it doesn’t make it any less true. You’ve even been called murderer. And who’s to say, that though Misty was only referring to her brother who ended up killed by Sayer, you weren’t responsible for more deaths at the Daimon Area? You didn’t care._   
Akiza struggled desperately, her vision going dim. She couldn’t breathe. _She couldn’t breathe..._  
 _At the Arcadia Movement, you hurt countless people. You put your trust in Sayer. And all of that changed after two duels with Yusei? Who, might I add, you tried to kill anyway? No, the monster is still there. You know it as well as I do. So why don’t you join me? You don’t have to be the outsider. You can rule them. You can show them the suffering you went through. You can have your revenge._  
Akiza’s struggles were growing weaker. Harpy’s Pet Dragon had Black Rose pinned, completely at its mercy. The claw Signer frantically looked around, for anything that she could use to escape before Mai killed her. Something caught her eye at the edge of a building. It wasn’t an object, though. It was an odd spider-like thing. It crouched on all fours, head cocked as it watched them patiently. Its mouth seemed to be moving in tandem with the words coming in Merzol’s voice.  
“Black Rose…” she tried to call, but she couldn’t make a sound. She was losing consciousness, but she never stopped fighting. Her dragon seemed to understand her anyhow. It writhed underneath Harpy’s, vines lashing, trying desperately to free itself and in turn, Akiza. But it couldn’t escape. Its rose petal wings were torn, black blood dripping from countless wounds across its body. Harpy’s had its claws digging into its shoulders, and it couldn’t escape without tearing off its own wings. It roared in anger, trying desperately to shake off Mai’s monster, but it couldn’t. Akiza was limp, unconscious, and Black Rose was trapped.  
…….  
The last thing Jack expected to see was Black Rose and Harpy’s Pet Dragon trying to tear each other to pieces. But, when he turned around, that was exactly what was happening. He frowned, and turned Archfiend towards the battle. As he watched, Back Rose tangled Harpy’s in its vines, bringing them both down to a roof. He pressed his dragon to go faster as the fight raged on.  
“Oi! Mai! Akiza!” Jack called, looking for the duelists. Archfiend growled below him, spreading its wings and hovering, jerking its head at a spot on the roof. There they were. Mai was on top of Akiza, a knee pressed into her back, hands wrapped around her throat. That was the moment Black Rose crashed to the roof with a cry of pain, Harpy’s pinning it from behind.  
Jack was about to go rushing in when he saw Akiza weakly try to push herself up, one hand pointing to her right. Black Rose seemed to understand, thrashing and causing more wounds for itself as Harpy’s claws dug into its shoulders. Jack followed the direction of its struggles, seeing what had caught its attention. It was a shadow creature, standing at the edge of the building, head cocked in interest as it watched. Its hands tightened around nothing as Mai’s closed around Akiza’s neck, and Jack made the connection.  
“Oh, no you don’t,” he muttered. Archfiend gave a low rumble of excitement and dived for the creature. The dragon caught it in its claws, and with a growl of satisfaction, threw it viciously to the streets far below.  
…….  
Mai blinked, the world slowly coming into focus around her. Feeling gradually came back into her body, and it was then that she realized exactly what she was doing.   
“Oh my God!” Mai stumbled back in horror, kneeling on the concrete, her eyes wide. She was breathing hard, staring numbly at Akiza’s unmoving form.   
“Akiza! Mai!” Jack leaped from his dragon as they landed on the roof, running to the two duelists.   
“Jack… I…” Mai’s hand covered her mouth, her gaze never leaving the claw Signer lying still on the roof.  
The blond nodded, dropping to his knees at Akiza’s side and grabbing her wrist. He felt around for a moment, eventually dropping her hand in relief.  
“She’s fine,” he said, sitting back on his heels. Mai nodded mutely. A huge black head shoved Jack out of the way as Black Rose Dragon nudged its mistress’s body with a worried growl.  
“She’s fine,” Jack repeated. The dragon studied him with one red eye, but seemed to take his word for it. Monsters and humans took in the damage caused by the fight. The unconscious Signer, the practically totaled roof, the black blood pooled in various areas.  
Akiza stirred, coughing, and pushed herself up to her elbows.  
“Akiza! Are you okay?”  
The psychic duelist didn’t answer Jack. Instead, she stood rather shakily, warily taking in her surroundings.  
“…Akiza?”  
The claw Signer was breathing hard, chest heaving, her eyes darting around her and her pupils dilated. The energy stabilizer in her hair began to glow as her hands balled into fists at her sides. Around her throat darkness gathered like a choker, right where Mai’s hands had been.  
“Akiza!” Jack shot to his feet, taking a step forward. Akiza stumbled back, clawing at her neck as the glow of the energy stabilizer began to pulse. It gave one last flash and clattered to the ground. Akiza screamed, her long bangs falling across her face. Black Rose roared, rearing up to the sky as it cried out in pain.   
Jack ran to Archfiend as Mai snapped out of her shocked stupor, launching herself onto Harpy’s back. He watched in horror as Akiza struggled with herself, a wind picking up around them. Archfiend reared back, opening its wings and letting the wind take it up, circling around the psychic duelist and Black Rose.   
“Akiza!” he yelled over the gale, but she didn’t even acknowledge him. All of a sudden, the wind picked up, causing even Archfiend to struggle for control. Akiza stood straight in the middle, her bangs hiding her face. Black Rose crouched beside her, teeth bared in a snarl.  
Jack swore. Akiza had gone Black Rose Witch on them, and he had a suspicion that Merzol was behind it. He heard her scream again from below him, but ultimately her Black Rose persona was stronger. Her body took on the same eerie purple glow that her energy stabilizer had lit up with, and she threw out one hand. Vines whipped out from Black Rose Dragon, wrapping around Archfiend and pinning its wings to its sides, bringing it down with a loud crash. It roared angrily, but the vines held fast. Jack’s leg was pinned under his dragon, blood dripping into his eye from a cut above his eyebrow. He couldn’t see much, but what he did wasn’t reassuring. The faint outline of Akiza’s glowing body and Black Rose Dragon, walking closer with every intention to kill him.


End file.
